Metamorphosis
by Safi
Summary: New Chapter up! Are they all alive? How on Earth are they goona get out of it if they are? Please, please read and review!!
1. Default Chapter

Metamorphosis

Part 1

It happened again, 

__

Stay calm, he told himself, _you can't loose it now, not in front of so many people._

He looked around the cafe to see if anyone had noticed but no one gave any indication that that had been the case. He had purposely taken the seat nearest to the exit and farthest from the main array of dining tables to allow himself plenty of opportunity to run if something, untoward happened and also to be able to watch the people's reaction should he not notice another bout of his 'condition'.

He could feel his skin moving, metamorphosing to be precise, into what he didn't know, he had never allowed himself the chance to fully understand what was happening to him. All he'd known was fright since the first time he had felt it, felt it in his gut and seen what he had done. He'd pushed it back, denied what was clearly a terrifying and exhilarating experience, refused to believe that he, of all people, someone who had never thought of himself as anything out of the ordinary was something else…..

__

You're a mutant you idiot he scolded himself, that much was obvious. What wasn't as clear was the nature and power that the rare and indiscriminate 'X-factor' he obviously had gained was granting. He'd seen the news reports about mutants, seen how the media had twisted the truth for their own devices, he'd seen them portray mutants as 'evil', he'd even seen some channels portray them as 'heroes' but he'd never seen them like he felt now, frightened, alone and unable to understand the changes his body was going through whether he welcomed it or not.

He wished Alex and Danny were here.

***

"Over here!" Shouted David, running wildly up the line trying to indicate that, in fact, the ball should be passed to him and not that idiot Sam. His hands flew about in the air, hoping to catch the attention of the central-midfielder, and best friend in training, Alex Cantell.

__

He's gonna give it to Sam, he's gonna give it to Sam. He told himself, waiting for yet another moment of acute irritation as Al side-stepped one midfielder, hit a nifty little through-ball down the middle, onto the waiting Sam's feet and cast his apologies to David with his eyes. Sam then propelled himself across the pitch, running several of the opposite team members ragged while trying to catch up with him and, in a moment of arrogant impudence, trotted to the penalty area where he kicked the ball with all of his venom and watched it fly into the back of the net.

"Oh YES!" Cried Sam, running wildly around the pitch, with his arms in a victory salute, like he had just scored the winning goal in the World Cup Final. "That's another one to me, why don't you kids pack up now and let some real men try and take me down for once." 

"Oh for God's sake Sam" Alex moaned, angry at himself that he had even thought about passing the ball to the arrogant jerk let alone acting upon it, "You really are a complete tosser aren't you?" 

"Here, here" agreed all of the opposite team and half of his own. 

Sam stood there hands on hips, not caring what anybody thought, as long that little bastard on the wing hadn't managed to be part of any more than a handful of eventful moments in the game he was happy. "So Dave, how is it that you're still here? I thought you would have realised that the team wouldn't need your pointless running down the wing by now and given up to run home to Mummy." 

David didn't budge, he knew what was coming, in fact had managed to put up with it for the past six weeks after joining Alex in his favourite sport. He knew no-one here liked Sam but they also had to admit that he was, by far, the best football player they had in the team. Why Sam had taken an immediate disliking to him was a mystery to be solved later but he knew why he didn't like Sam. One of the most annoying things in the world, to him, were people who would take the piss out of other's but couldn't handle receiving the same treatment in return. Although not religious in any sense of the word, he believed vehemently in the Christian adage, "Do unto others as you would do unto yourself." It seemed to be almost common sense to him that if you treated people with disdain and hatred then you deserved to be treated in the same way but if they were going to win that pub competition and the 'Free Booze for a Weekend' prize, he knew that all of them would have to put up with him just so that they could plan their revenge and make up for the crap he had given them ever since he had entered their lives.

"Well, I was going to but then I thought if I went to your house I'd be able to get a cup of tea **and **a blow-job so I decided to stick around for a while." David sneered, not in the mood for yet another one-sided barrage of insult's but he regretted it as soon as he'd said it. Along with being the best football player, Sam was also one of the biggest and, easily, the most volatile of the group.

"Why you little fucker" He snarled and raced after David as he began to run to the relative safety of the middle of a bunched-up pack of friends. "You're gonna be sorry you said that you pathetic little bastard, I'm gonna rip your head off and shit down your neck!" He exclaimed as he fought to get into the closely-knit group of people.

Alex saw all of this and managed to grab Sam round the arms, pinning them to his sides, and pulling him back from the huddled mass. "Get a grip Sam, for pity's sake, can't you take a joke?" Trying to turn his friends remark into something he clearly hadn't intended it to be. "He didn't mean anything by it, we all like to take the piss out of each other and don't really mean it, you've got to lighten up a bit."

Alex was the only person capable of calming a mad Sam down. Mostly because he was the only one who could more than hold his own against him and Sam knew it. As he slowly backed away, Alex's tight grasp around his arms pulling him back faster that he would have liked, Sam made his final thoughts clear. "After the final this afternoon David, you and me are gonna have words, in fact forget words, you and me are gonna have something your not gonna be able to walk away from."

David bit his lip to stop himself from saying "What are you gonna do, bugger me to death you fucking poof?" Which would have resulted in nothing more than his immediate death instead of a slightly postponed one and kept himself hidden as much as possible in the security of his temporary bodyguards. He also didn't have anything against homosexuals and thought that it would be an insult to them if he included them and Sam in the same sentence let alone describe him as one.

With the matter ended, at least for the time being, Alex left the fuming Sam to walk up to the pub entrance with a fiver of his money (an ingenious strategy of calming Sam down and getting a pint at the same time) and came down to the waiting huddle of footballers.

"All right people, now that the show and practise are both over I'll see you here in an hour for kick-off OK?" The muffled agreements told him that everyone had heard and the small whimper in the middle told him that David had the sense to be wary of Alex's feelings to his friends earlier retort. "And David, what the fuck were you thinking? Have you any idea how much trouble you've made for yourself and me come to think of it?"

"Well, I'm inclined to agree with you but so many people heard what he said that if I turn up mangled and broken in some dark and dingy alley then it's likely the police will put two and two together and go knocking on his door before long. Besides, " David ventured, "You could always avenge my death!"

Alex grinned, he couldn't stay annoyed with David for long, mostly because he couldn't blame him for the totally unreasonable way Sam behaved towards his friend. That and the fact that Dave was always ready with a quick one-liner to diffuse, or incite, situations that would have otherwise brought a large dollop of trouble their way. "I'll remember to get my Spiderman costume out and at the ready then, just in case! Come on I'll buy you a drink but stay out of Sam's way, he's not gonna do anything to you before the match as you're the only decent crosser of the ball we've got and we can work out an escape route for you while we sort out how we're gonna get the wanker back for all the shit we've had to take off of him."

"Fair enough." David said, he was grateful for the friend he had in Alex, it was always useful to be friendly with the biggest person around, especially when you seemed to be a magnet for the insane and pathetic, but it was more than that. He had been introduced to Al years ago at a mutual friends party, the size of him along with his shaved head and tattooed arms had made him come to the stereotypical conclusion that he was a thug and not much more, but his character couldn't have been more different from his outward appearance. Al had recognised the smaller mans reaction to him and, although tired of having to dispel everyone's fears about him, he had heard enough about David to want to give the correct impression of himself. They realised they had much in common with each other and, despite his initial reaction, David felt at ease in his company almost immediately after that. He stayed in contact with Alex but had always lived too far away to really get to know him well. Since he had moved into the same town as Alex, three months ago they had formed a close friendship which he valued greatly and would hate to lose. 

The two friends ambled up the steep slope towards their favourite pub , the 'Dog and Bone'. David had always been amused with the strange and sometimes downright bizarre names that patrons gave their drinking establishments, this one wasn't as bad as some of the pubs he and Alex had frequented over the last few months. His favourite being 'The Slug and Lettuce' which he had refused to enter on the general principle that anything named after such a slimy creature wasn't likely to have the most sanitary of insides. It had, in fact been one of the nicer ones and was almost sad to go to another one as he had enjoyed seeing the faces of friends when he had told them of his pub's strange name. The 'Dog and Bone', however, had won their competition of which pub to make their local for the simple reason that it had both of their favourite beers on tap, they showed the football on a Saturday and Sunday afternoon, the pool table was cheap and they were also undefeated in the pubs doubles competition. _A winning combination if ever there was one, _he chuckled to himself.

It was situated on the edge of a large playing field, including the football pitch for the final this afternoon, in the middle of an estate a couple of miles outside of London proper. It was a one story building of the Victorian persuasion although whether that was due to a conscious decision on the patron's part or it was actually built in the Victorian times David couldn't decide. The pub had a welcoming appeal, the porch was small and cosy and the wooden door gave a satisfying creak as it opened into the main room.. Inside it looked like any normal pub, pointless shit was hanging from every available space on the walls, from pictures of men in kilts that had probably never left their highland homes to the odd shiny oilcan and fishing rod. The bar was long which was another important factor, David had always liked a pub where you could stand at the bar from the moment you walked in, and the staff had always been friendly. Now that he had been coming regularly, they knew him well enough to have his pint waiting for him as he walked up to Alex and sat on a bar-stool facing directly at the giant T.V. that had, somehow, been placed in the top right-hand corner of the ceiling so no matter how many people were in there you could always watch the match.

"I'm only letting us have one before the match Dave, otherwise we're gonna be slipping and sliding all over the place with the amount of rain we've been having ." Alex said craning his neck around a pillar that was spoiling his view of the pool-table. "But the tables free so do you fancy a game?"

"Not 'arf!" David joked in his best Yorkshire accent. He got to his feet and shook his trousers, listening for the tell-tale sign of jingling money. "Sounds like I've got a bit of change so I'll go for this one and whoever loses pays for the next." He said smiling, knowing full-well that if he was on form then Al would be paying for the next few games at least.

***

"WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS, WE'RE OFF TO WEM-BE-LEY!" The singing could be heard from the other side of the estate and only a few people didn't know what it was about. The competition had been so popular that it had taken almost two months for all the entered teams to play and reach the final and the huge crowd that had turned up for it was a good indicator for the success of the idea. 

The game itself had been a tight affair, the opposing team, 'Tidy Tigers FC', had scored in the first fifteen minutes which had left the locals, 'Sportsman Smokers', in shock. The tide turned back in their favour in the thirtieth when Alex and the other central-midfielder, Mike, had played a clever one-two between the oncoming defenders and then caught the goalkeeper completely out of position with a perfect through-ball for Sam to get a hold of and slot into the undefended goal. It had stayed like that for the rest of the second half, shots were poring in thick and fast at both ends but neither team were able to take advantage of any of the opportunities that came their way. 

With five minutes of golden-goal time remaining, David picked up the ball just inside the 'Tigers' half and began to run with it down the line. As a defender came in with a sliding tackle he deftly turned inside, away from the oncoming legs and shot forward towards the penalty area.

"Pass the ball you idiot!" he heard someone shout and realised that it was that prick Sam and chose to ignore him and take it forward himself. 

"Pass me the fucking ball!" Sam screeched, if anyone was going to score the winning goal then it certainly wasn't going to be the person who he'd as soon as spit on than look at.

David ignored him and instead concentrated on the rest of the team's encouraging cheers behind him and slipped past another defender as if he wasn't there. With only the goalkeeper to beat he concentrated, pulled back his right leg and fired a rocket that flew past the keeper before he could even see it and made the back of the net billow out with the force of the shot. 

The cheers came thick and fast and the rest of the team raced around the shocked David as they carried him on their shoulders, singing madly and leaving the forgotten Sam in a furious rage in the middle of the pitch. 

***

"Three cheers for the man of the hour!" Alex cried at the top of his voice as he pointed towards the still slightly disbelieving David. The din of the pub muted significantly to begin the celebratory ritual showing just how impressed and happy the pub was with the man blushing profusely in the corner. Even the opposite team had to admit that they had been beaten by a spectacular goal and joined in with as much enthusiasm as the rest of the pub. Only one person refused to be part of the fun.

"Hip, hip!"

"HOORAY!!

"Hip, hip!"

"HOORAY!!"

"Hip, hip!"

"HOORAY!!!"

The applause ended and everyone went back to their respective conversations, after a while David took the opportunity to relieve his bowels who were screaming at him to go after already having drunk four pints. His way was hampered by a plethora of handshakes and verbal congratulations as he muscled his way through the throng and towards the toilets at the other end of the pub. As he stepped into the urinals, he noticed Alex already starting what he intended upon doing.

"Hey, it's Gary Lineker! How's it feel to be a super-star?!" Alex teased, already pretty drunk and loving every minute of his friends success.

"Aw, don't you start as well!" He sighed but with only amusement in his voice as he stood in front of the urinal. "It's getting quite embarrassing now."

"Yeah right!" He quipped, "Admit it mate, you're loving every minute of it."

"I'd be loving it even more if Sam wouldn't keep glaring at me like he wants to kill me." David said, bringing Alex back to earth hearing the worry and anxiety in his friends voice.

"Don't worry about him Dave," He said as reassuringly as possible. Although he hadn't thought about it much until that point, Sam had been worryingly quiet since the end of the game and the fact that the attention-seeking idiot had received no praise for his efforts on the pitch meant that Alex started to become increasingly concerned with his current state of mind. "He played a decent game and scored one of the goals so he shouldn't have that much to be pissed off about. Tell you what, lets have a few more drinks here and then get the rest of the team to come back to my place and make sure that Sam doesn't have the opportunity to carry out his threat."

Dave couldn't argue with that.

With this to look forward to David relaxed and tried to enjoy the celebrity status he had suddenly achieved, although his mind kept thinking back to the goal he had scored. He couldn't work out how it had been so accurate and so fast. He was also puzzled by the fact that he was sure that, although he had swung his leg and concentrated on the ball and where he wanted it to go, it had started to move towards the goal before his foot had touched it, he was sure of it but couldn't think of any explanation that would be within the realms of possibility. He didn't know what to think and decided that when he was next alone with Alex he would see what his friend thought about it.

The rest of the time spent in the pub went smoothly, all thoughts of leaving early evaporated with the premature departure of Sam and, by closing time Alex and David were both rather drunk and stumbling back to Alex's house.

"I tell you what I think Dave," Alex slurred out," I don't know what to think. If you say that the ball moved before your foot touched it then who am I to argue but I know your talking shit!" He teased.

"Wouldn't be any different from usual I s'ppose, but it was just so damn weird I tells ya." He replied, knowing that this probably wasn't the best time to get a decent answer out of the drunken man.

They carried on through the winding alley ways that criss-crossed the estate like a labyrinth, David trusting Alex's years of practise of walking through these confusing paths to take them where they wanted to go. As they turned a corner and entered one of the many little patches of grass area that broke the monotony of the claustrophobic alley walls, David saw something out of the corner of his eye. A man was coming towards them so he moved to get out of the way and then heard Alex shout out in pain and hit the ground, hard.

"What the…ALEX!" He cried turning again to aid his stricken friend and found him lying face-down, whimpering in pain. "Alex are you OK?" He felt something grab him and pull him backwards, smacking him against the alley wall and hitting his skull against the concrete. He held the back of his head, managed to regain his balance and looked up to see his attacker and found that he recognised him. "Sam? What the ….."

"Shut the fuck up you stupid little bastard!" He snarled, grabbing him by the lapels of his coat and positioning his face only inches from David's. "I bet you all had a good laugh at me in the pub tonight didn't you?" A worryingly insane laugh erupted from his mouth. "Christ, I'm gonna enjoy this!"

"Sam please," He pleaded, "I don't know what your talking about, this isn't right…." Whatever he was going to say was lost when Sam turned his baseball bat on David and hit him in the stomach with a force that drove the air from his lungs. He went down to the ground, struggling for breath. 

"Didn't I just tell you to shut up you simpering idiot?" He kicked him in the chest, sending him sprawling down the path. "You think you're better than me? You'll never be better than me!" Sam picked up the broken man and slammed him up against the wall. "You think you can take all the glory away from me? Well your wrong, DEAD wrong!".

"David!" Came a cry from behind Sam as Alex managed to get to his feet, head pounding from the blow that Sam had given him, and grabbed the attackers hair in his hand pulling him off of David. But Sam was too quick, he elbowed Alex in the ribs and swung round hurling the baseball bat in the air and bringing it down with crushing finality on his back. 

The scream of pain that came from his friends mouth jolted David back into reality and felt something inside him snap. His anguish at seeing his friend go down and the look of pure hate in Sam's eyes was unbearable but all that came out of his mouth was frighteningly calm.

"No." 

His skin started to ripple with unknown energies. Waves of what looked like tiny streaks of lightning flashed across his body as he stared at his attacker who seemed to be too far into his murderous rage to comprehend what was happening to his would-be victim. He felt a previously unknown power within him break its confines and erupt as his entire body began to glow and then become translucent, all that was on his mind was to stop Sam from harming his friend any more. 

Sam advanced on David, his brain refusing to acknowledge the changes in his victims body or the calm and expressionless face that he had since adopted. He swing his bat around and brought it down with all his might upon David's head and then stopped. No damage, nothing at all, the only sign that the bat had indeed hit this glowing figure in front of him was the fact that the bat now had a sizeable dent in the side of it.

He stood, disbelieving what had happened, looking at the bat the only thing he could think of saying was, "What the fu…!"

He was stopped short as David concentrated on his foe and with a scream of rage sent a thunderous fist of energy from his chest at the now fully aware, and terrified, Sam, hurtling him across fifty feet of grass land and onto the waiting concrete of the far alley wall. The force of the impact shattering all of the bones in his body, killing him instantly, and blowing a gaping hole in the concrete wall behind him.

With his foe down, David, gradually losing his glow and returning to his normal body, rushed to Alex's side. "Alex? Oh God please be alright, you've got to be alright." He pleaded, grabbing at his shoulders and preparing to turn his friend over. Several lights in the nearby houses had since come on to see what the noise had been and a few people came out of their houses after seeing Alex lying on the floor.

"No don't!" Alex cried in agony, "I think I'm busted Dave, I can't move my legs and my back feels like it's on fire, if you turn me over you're gonna do more damage than good. You've got to get out here mate, I ….think I saw what happened to you. I definitely saw what happened to Sam and if others did as well then I don't want you hurt too."

David rejected that notion almost immediately, "Bugger that Al, I at least need to tell someone what's happened to you so no-one makes your injuries any worse, besides I don't think any of those lights came on until after….what happened."

"Dave, what did happen?"

"……." He didn't know, he hadn't allowed himself to think of what was happening to him, he'd only felt the need to stop Sam from causing any more damage to himself and his friend and refused to give it any thought until he knew Alex was getting medical attention.

"We'll talk about that later, right now lets get you out of here." With that he twisted round on his knees and shouted at the on-coming people, "Will someone please call an ambulance right fucking now, we need a doctor down here as soon as possible, as in yesterday!!"

"I'm on it," Cried a voice and with that left the ever-increasing hoard of on-lookers and bolted into the nearest front door. David stood up to greet the first group of people and suddenly felt his head spinning and the exhaustion hit his body. The amount of energy he had used up in the defence of his friend had taken a greater toll on his body that he realised and realised his legs were buckling underneath him.

He managed to blurt out, "Don't touch him, his back." Before his head hit the ground and blackness enveloped him…


	2. Chapter 2

Here's the disclaimer part, although it doesn't really need one. All the characters are mine, at the moment at least, if you want to use them then go right ahead. Any feedback would be great…….

Part 2

"Daftlll?"

__

What?

"Daviftlll?"

__

What the f…?

"David!"

__

Oh, right

David opened his eyes and closed them almost immediately, bringing up his hands to shield him from the light as it poured in and threatened to temporarily blind him. He tried again, gradually increasing the space between his fingers to lessen the impact. His sight wasn't doing particularly well though, all he could see was a big, white blur with several indistinct but darker shapes on either side of his field of vision. 

"What the…..? What's going on? Where am I?" He blurted out, hoping against hope that the headache he had was going to go away as soon as possible. He reached up and felt a bandage around his head, wincing as he felt round the back and hit a tender spot.

"It's ok honey, it's ok," He heard a soothing female voice from one side of the bed say, he welcomed the gentle caress of his forehead even through blur of pain he was receiving from the rest of his head "It's Mum and Dad."

"And brother!" Came an indignant reply from the other side.

"And brother." His Mum repeated, sighing "How are you feeling?"

"Oh just dandy Mum," He said, irritably, "I feel like I've got the entire London Philharmonic Orchestra playing the same god-awful tune in my head over and over again but other than that, just tickety-boo cheers!" He could never work out why anyone would ask that question when it was pretty obvious that he wasn't ok. "That, and my sight's all shot to shit, what's going on?"

"You're having trouble with your eye-sight because of the blow you took to the head when you fell unconscious." A highly professional voice from behind the two blobs on the left said. "But that should clear up within the next hour or so don't worry young man."

"Well that's good to know, next question: Where the hell am I?"

"You're in hospital son," His father said reassuringly. "You've been here since they picked you up off the floor of the alley-way last night, But don't worry about that now, just concentrate on getting yourself better."

'The alley-way' he thought, trying to cast his mind back to the events of last night, 'I was walking, well stumbling, through the alley-way with Alex……..Alex?' 

His eyes widened as the memory of what had happened came crashing back into his mind. "ALEX!" David shouted, trying to sit up but failing miserably, the room started to whirl around him and he only just managed to keep back the pang of nausea and rising bile in his throat. Several pairs of hands immediately, but gently, grabbed him by the chest or arms and lowered him back down onto the bed.

"Where's Alex?" He mumbled weakly, "Please tell me, is he ok? Please, I've got to know."

"Shhhh," His Mum cooed softly, one hand gently squeezing his as reassuringly as she could while the other stroked his hair, calming him down as much as possible in the light of the memories that had just invaded his thoughts. "It's ok honey, just lay still or you're going to hurt yourself even more and heaven knows I couldn't handle that."

"But Mum," he protested, trying to fight back the feeling that he was going to be sick at any moment. "Alex, my friend, Sam, his back, got to help him, got to stop Sam." he mumbled incoherently.

"He's here son, " His father said, rubbing his hand up and down David's leg in an attempt to placate him. "He's in the hospital, the doctors got to him quickly and, thanks to you, no-one tried to turn him over or touch him so there's a chance he maybe alright."

"Alright? What do you mean maybe alright? He's got to be alright, oh god what's happened to him?"

"Come on David, this isn't helping anyone right now. Close you're eyes and get some rest. There's no point telling you anything yet as we don't even know for sure what's happened to him. As soon as anything definite is found we'll let you know, I promise son."

"O-ok Dad," He said hesitantly, relaxing visibly as his mother continued to stroke his hair and hold his hand. Soon enough, tiredness overcame worry and he fell back into a deep sleep.

***

"So, you feeling any better Dave?" Danny said, worry and concern rife in both his voice and eyes. David stopped sipping at the boiling hot tea in his hands and turned his head, ever so gently, towards the seat in the corner that his little brother had staked as his own personal territory ever since he had been admitted. It had been a long and hard few hours since he woken up again. His sight was back to normal and the headache had faded to a dull throb at the back of his skull. The news on Alex was not as good as he was hoping for, though, and he had spent over an hour asking the consultant everything he could think of about his friends crippling injuries. He had had to fight back the tears when they said that Alex was paralysed from the waist down and finally gave up the ghost when they had told him the chances of him ever walking again were anywhere between zero and none.

"For a while back there I thought you were gonna leave without saying goodbye to me." The emotion in his voice wasn't hard to understand, and David found himself fighting the tears again.

"You know I'd never do that if I had any choice in the matter Danny-boy and besides, there's no point in thinking things like that when I'm here and not intending to go anywhere without your permission." He said, curling the edges of his lips into the nearest approximation of a smile that he could create. He looked at the worry-creased face of his brother and had to admit that he felt better with him being here. 

Even though Danny was a good five years younger then him, they had such a close relationship that their parents had once worried than neither of them were going to make any other friends outside of the family. He looked older than his 17 years would have implied and his messy blond hair was constantly getting in his eyes making him brush it behind his ears every other minute. He always refused to get it cut any shorter claiming this time he really was going to grow it long, although Dave knew that this was simply a ploy to make their Mum fuss over him even more than usual. His parents had always called his younger sibling their 'little miracle' as after David was born, the doctors told his mum that complications with his birth had resulted in her being unable to conceive another child. So determined had they been to prove them wrong that they had tried all the medical treatments available. After five long years they had finally given up on the dream only to have it realised through the most natural of means.

Although initially jealous, as all older siblings are, of the extra attention Danny had received as a baby, he been such a joy to be with and a welcome relief from the depression that had hit his mother over the earlier news that he couldn't hate him for long. His Mum and Dad had always made sure to lavish attention on both boys as they grew older and David had decided at an early age to take his brother under his wing, as it were, and vowed that no harm would ever be done to him.

"Damn right," Danny said matter-of-factly. "And if I ever hear of you getting into such trouble again Mr Edward's I shall personally chop you're balls off and force them down you're throat!" He teased, trying to bring as much humour into the situation as he knew would be allowed.

"Now there's a great image to have in my head." David said appreciating the attempt to lighten the mood. "How's Mum and Dad?"

"Alright I guess, they were both frantic with worry until we found out you were alright, although I wasn't exactly the epitome of calm myself. They've managed to keep the police at bay for the moment but once they find out that you're feeling better it won't be much longer until they start asking you a load of questions."

"The cops?" 

"Yeah, they seem pretty itchy about all of this to be honest." Danny said as calmly as he could, this subject was a dangerous one to bring up but if anyone could get David to talk about it he knew that he would probably be the most successful one. "They know that Alex's….injuries were caused by that bastards baseball bat, the marks on his back line up identically with the shape of the weapon, but they can't figure out what happened next."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, they found Sam's body on the other side of the grass-land, all of his bones had been shattered by a force that had managed to hurl him across fifty-feet of open space, onto a concrete wall and blow the back out of the wall. I only found this out cos I was sneaking around outside and overheard them talking while you were last asleep." He decided to go for it, "Can you remember what happened? Was someone else there as well?"

David unconsciously bit his lower lip, for the past 17 years its been impossible to lie to this man. "No." Maybe he shouldn't have bit his lip.

"No, what?"

"I don't remember, I can't remember anything after hearing Alex screaming ok?"

"Dave, there's something you're not telling me."

__

Shit. He definitely shouldn't have bit his lip.

"Either you tell me now or the police later on, I'm pretty sure which one I'd rather tell and you know you can trust me to keep whatever you say between us until you say otherwise."

"There's nothing I'm more sure of Danny-boy but I can't remember anything more, at least not yet."

"You know it's ridiculous."

"What?"

"You trying to lie to me. I don't think you've ever managed not to bite your lip when you've tried that and you never will."

__

Shit. Mental note: don't bite lip when lying.

"Look, even if I do remember something else, and this is only saying **if** I can. Believe me it's better you don't know, at least for the time being."

"Oh great now I know your lying to me, shit Dave I'm your brother, if you can't tell me then who can you tell?"

There was a long pause, David looked at his brother and realised that he couldn't keep it a secret from him for long but he wasn't ready to share this with him yet, he wasn't ready to share it with anyone except, "I need to see Alex."

"What?"

"I need to see Alex…… now."

***

Who knew that getting around a hospital would have been so difficult. It had taken a while to plan the necessary diversion to draw the police guards away from the entrance to his hospital room. Danny playing the fool and causing a 'distraught' fracas in the corridor, forcing the cops to try and subdue him. The pillows looked nothing like him and he knew that he wouldn't have long to talk to Alex before they found him. He slipped past some more policeman, and into a waiting lift. Danny had already told him that Alex was awake and that the police had been to see him earlier in the day. He had also given David the room number and department where Alex was being kept and it wasn't too far from where he was staying, although hopefully far enough for the police to take their time getting there.

He found the door he was looking for and quietly opened it, searching the room to make sure there were no other visitors about to spot him. Finding none, he opened it the rest of the way and whispered, "Alex? Are you awake?"

A groan told him that he wasn't but the next instant he saw his friends eye's open and fix on him with a welcoming and happy edge that made his guilt jump into over-load. 

"Hey there stranger," Alex said sleepily, rubbing his eyes "How are you feeling?"

"I should be asking you the same thing, look Al I can't tell you…"

"Whatever you are about to say, and I've got a pretty good idea what it was, do not say it or I'll beat you round the head with whatever comes nearest to hand!" He teased and smiled a smile at David that left him in no doubt that there was no bad feeling between the two friends. "There's no possible way that you are responsible for this and I refuse to let you come in here and drip guilt all over me when all I want to do it talk now, sit."

David obeyed, he moved from the door, closed and locked it just to make sure he would get as much time as possible with his friend and sat beside Alex on a chair next to the bed. "You're one stubborn bastard sometimes, you know that?"

"Yep, it's one of my most endearing qualities, plus my ability to talk more shit than you when I'm drunk! And speaking of special abilities, do you wanna tell me what happened to you that saved both our hides back there?"

__

Typical, I come in to apologise profusely and the next thing I know he's forcing a confession out of me. David thought, _God, I love this bloke._

"What can I say? It's pretty obvious I'm a mutant of some kind, what my powers are I have no idea as I didn't even know I was one until Sam attacked us. You don't mind me, you know, being a mutant? "

"Considering that's what saved our lives from that homicidal son-of-a-bitch I'd seem pretty hypocritical if I did. Anyway it seems like we were pretty lucky that you're body decided to manifest when it did."

"I suppose so, if only it had been a few minutes earlier….."

"Yeah, well I always said you were a slow bastard, I just didn't realise how right I was."

David smiled, "Cheers Al, I was hoping that you wouldn't hold it against me, I don't know what I'd have done if I'd lost your friendship."

"Glad to know I'm wanted," He replied, "And the same goes for you too, it's a pity I won't be seeing you for a while after this chat."

"What? What do you mean?" 

"You've got to get out of here Dave and I mean now, the cops have got it in for you something fierce. I was interviewed by this weird fella this morning, the other cops were acting really awkwardly around him and I could tell he wasn't your normal run-of-the-mill policeman. He didn't ask a thing about me or Sam just kept on asking questions about you, "How long have you known him?" "Have you ever seen him display powers or abilities beyond the capability of a normal human?" All this sort of stuff, 'corse

I didn't tell him shit, but I don't think he really cared whether I confirmed his suspicions or not. He either knows something or he's definitely on the right track, either way you'd better split quick."

"Shit, I really don't need this right now."

"Tell me about it, I was looking forward to making you clean my bed sores for me"

"Christ, now that's two mental images I didn't need to think about."

"What's the other one?"

"You don't wanna know, but if you fancy a bit of sadomasochism then ask Danny." He grinned and then realised his time was up. If the police found him in here they'd bang him up for sure. "Seems like this is it for the moment then, I'd best get back and get some clothes on and tell Danny goodbye."

"You can't do it mate, you need to get out now, you were lucky you got out when you did. That copper isn't waiting around, if they haven't found that you've gone already then it's only a matter of minutes before they do. Take some of my clothes and my cards, I won't need them for a while and you won't be able to get your own anytime soon, but if I see a bill from the Savoy Hotel or something I'll track you down myself!"

"Shit, shit, shit! Can you tell him I'm sorry but I had no choice and I'm gonna have to ask his permission next time I have to disappear for a while?"

"As good as done, now get out of here."

"One more thing, tell him what happened, all that you can remember, he deserves that much at least and I'd like him to understand why his big brother had to leave him on his own." David held out his hand and without hesitation Alex took it and shook the hand of his best friend. "Tell him I'll be in touch in a couple of months when this has all died down and know that I'll see you again."

"I'll hold you to it mate, now fuck off before I start calling for the cops myself."

And with that David took what clothes Alex had in the wardrobe, took one last look at his friend and jumped out of the window and ran towards the nearest train station.


	3. Chapter 3

Here's the disclaimer part. All the X-men characters are Marvel's, sue me and I'll be forced to sell my beloved used-tissue collection which would break my heart! David, Alex and Danny are mine, if you want to use them then go right ahead. Please, please, please review! Cheers

****

Part 3

It's amazing how things can change in the space of six minutes. Yesterday, David was a normal twenty-something bloke, worrying about the things a normal twenty-something bloke worries about. His family, girls, his friends, girls, who's going to win the Football League Championship this year, girls, and then things were put into perspective for him through the random and divine occurrence of chance.

Aspects of mutantcy usually appear when you hit adolescence, his hadn't. It can also activate when you find yourself in highly stressful circumstances - some theorising that the abilities that develop in these situations reflect the need to escape it - his had. When he had been attacked in the alley-way, when his friend had been brutally crippled and he finally accessed his powers to defeat the insane Sam, even though it terrified him when he felt his entire body transform before his eyes, he felt whole.

But where should he go? What should he do? Who can he trust with such a life-altering secret? He knew of only two people that he would always trust with anything he needed to tell. 

He wished Alex and Danny were here.

David had let these thought's sift through his mind ever since he had stepped off of the train in Central London and found a decent, secluded café where he had decided to rest and plan the next stage of his 'escape'.

The train journey had been , problematic. He had had to swap seats three times after he realised that his abilities were randomly activating and the people sitting opposite him had started to worry when his skin began to ripple. The mechanism used to trigger his powers was not yet a conscious one and neither was it controllable, the only way he could stop himself from going any further was by relaxing as much as he could, easier to say when your body feels so strange and your getting funny looks from everyone around you. 

His first plan was to travel to Dover and get a ferry over to France but had to scrap that when he remembered that his passport, and most everything else that he owned, was still at his house. With Al's card he had managed to get some cash and buy some new clothes, he knew enough about covering his tracks to get as much out as possible so that they couldn't trace the card wherever he went. London had seemed the nearest, and most crowded, place to go when he couldn't get out of the country and he knew it pretty well having worked there for a number of years. The summer sun had brought a lot of tourists so the central areas of London were packed with people and he could easily loose himself in the crowd if he needed to. Besides he liked the place, the hustle and bustle of the afternoon rush hour and about a million tourists vying for the same bit of pavement was something he enjoyed watching, especially in the good weather.

He hadn't felt so relaxed all day and, suddenly the world didn't seem too different after all.

***

Professor Xavier's eyes widened as he sat in front of Cerebro, inspecting the manifestation of a new mutant and analysing the results. "Good lord, this is incredible." 

'Hank, Bobby please come to see me in my study as soon as possible' He called out telepathically ' I have located a new mutant and it has a very strong mutagenic signature' 

'We'll be there shortly Professor', came Hank's reply.

***

"It's seems that the mutant has manifested itself in England," Xavier began, "London, to be more precise, and the potential power of this mutant is undeniable. I have studied the local papers from the area and found a rather unusual murder that occurred at the same time as the manifestation."

"Are you saying that this mutant may have committed it?" Hank asked.

"I'm saying that it may have been caused by the mutant accessing his powers for the first time, yes. But the circumstances surrounding the case are also interesting. It seems that the murder-victim attacked two young men, crippling one of them and beating the other. He was then thrown backwards onto a concrete wall some fifty feet away, blowing a hole in the back of it as well. Obviously this not something a normal human is capable of performing. The suspect for the crime, David Edwards, absconded from the hospital after escaping from his room, we have to find him before he can do any more harm with his powers while he cannot control them."

"Well that's typical." Bobby grinned, "I've just got a 25 point word in scrabble and Hank was going to take me on a Twinkie run, now I'm off to London without any at all!"

"I'm sure I have a few left in the refrigerator in my lab Robert." Hank replied, secretly agreeing with his friend and hoping that he was right.

"With or without your Twinkies, Iceman, " Xavier said sternly. "This mutant must be found and helped if we can. If he cannot learn to control his powers soon then he may hurt more innocent people, whether he wants to or not."

"We'll depart immediately sir, we should be at London within the next eight hours," Hank glanced at Bobby, "Adding a little for a stop at the refrigerator in my lab."

***

David looked at his watch 

__

Six Forty-five, that should give me enough time before my train leaves. He thought.

It had been four hours since he had sat down at the café and they had been well spent. He had a plan and, very soon, a full stomach. 

He had ordered his favourite food, a big juicy steak, with all the trimmings and, as it was served, he settled down to enjoy it. The meal was then rudely interrupted by the presence of a snotty American couple who were outraged to see that someone had taken *their* favourite table and at *their* favourite time to dine there. The man was a small, obviously dominated, almost pathetic creature, wearing the customary tourist leisurewear with one of those annoying golf caps that look too much like a Frisbee for it to be appropriate to wear on the head. The wife was vast, it amazed David that the woman had managed to fit through the door and could just picture her on her Kentucky farm making god-knows how many cakes for the hundreds of kids that she and her husband had somehow managed to produce. Just the sheer mechanics of it were enough for David to nearly forget about eating for the foreseeable future. She was wearing what looked like a tent with doilies on it, little flowers seemed to be everywhere and the thin tassel showed that, somewhere in there, there was a belt as well.

But that wasn't the part that repelled David, the woman's voice and behaviour was vulgar and rude. The waiter, who obviously didn't give a damn about the couples *rights* to the table, offered any of the many other tables to them but due to the wives increasingly eccentric and shrill, protests they elected to wait until David had finished.

Then began the psychological warfare, first it was the evil eyes from the wife and the pleading look from the husband who was clearly terrified for his life or manhood, or both. While he could certainly understand the man's position and had no problem with him in particular, David refused to crack under the pressure and so the pointedly-hinted-conversations started. 

"Oh look at the time Cletus," The woman said, with a mocking surprise in her voice, "It's so late I'll be dead on my feet before we get something to eat."

Or.

"I hope they don't lock the front door of the hotel if we're going to be out so late."

David's favourite one had to be

"I think I might faint if I don't eat something soon."

That was a joke if ever he had heard one. He managed to contain a laugh that threatened to erupt from him and carried on chewing at his steak. He had managed to master the art of selective hearing years ago while seeing one of his old girlfriends. The woman had been fully capable of talking the hind-legs off a donkey but none of the local farmers were willing to test the theory, fearing the loss of one of their livestock after meeting the girl. Her beauty, however, was also not in dispute and being the shallow, chauvinistic pig that he was, David had managed six months before he finally succumbed to the unfettered horror that was her voice.

The steak had been very good and, apart from the American couple, he had enjoyed it. The lady looked over, saw that he had taken his last bit and began to make melodramatic gestures to her husband to begin picking up the many shopping bags littered on the floor of the café. Seeing this, David motioned the waiter over and asked, 

"Excuse me, waiter?"

"Yes sir?"

The woman's ears pricked up, she looked over at the table with that damn kid on it and saw the waiter approaching him, replying to something. She strained harder to hear over the incessant noise of her good-for-nothing husband.

"I thought I'd better let you know I'm finished," David said, casting a glance at the couple. The waiter picked up on this and sent a message back. With his face a mixture of amusement and need for revenge, the waiter casually asked,

"Would you like to see the dessert list sir?"

With that he opened up the menu, keeping its back turned to the gradually closing couple, revealing a napkin with the words,

IT'S ON THE HOUSE !

And an arrow pointing the Americans way. David understood immediately and, with his own need for revenge to satisfy, played along with him.

"Why not indeed" He said grinning and took the menu from the waiter, being careful not to show the message to the gradually reddening wife and cringing husband. By this time the couple had managed to sneak up almost to the table and had heard every word.

"You're having desert now?" The woman asked scornfully. "Can't you see we're hungry as well?"

"Well I'm sure you are," David admitted as innocently as possible, "But there are plenty of other free tables in the café so why don't you take one of them." It was a perfectly logical argument, one which he knew had already fallen flat on its face when the waiter had attempted to subdue the woman with it earlier, but David couldn't think of anything else to say.

The woman's face grew even redder with this argument and David wondered if he had, again, bitten off more than he could chew. "You dare talk to me like that?" She said, obviously not used to being spoken back to - which was understandable considering the husbands current manoeuvring of dropping back towards the door, as if waiting for some bomb to explode. He was sure that he could see the veins in her head begin to grow and a cursory glance at the increasingly worried waiter confirmed his suspicions.

David decided that enough was enough, aggravating the woman any further would only lead to more arguments and the tension in the room was beginning to intensify. "I'm not talking to you in any particular way at all madam, I'm just simply pointing out an alternative to the situation we have found ourselves in." He said as diplomatically as possible but it only seemed to enrage the woman more.

"Well, I am not going to stand here and have my intelligence insulted by some snot-nosed punk, now why don't you be a good boy and move!" She shrieked, anger and outrage dripping from every word. Her hand struck the table with a surprising amount of strength, causing the cutlery and glasses to jump into the air and his drink to spill onto his lap.

David looked up from his soaking trousers to see that the waiter had become visibly shocked by this turn of events and his eyes pleaded for him not to carry on the ruse any longer. David agreed with him. None of this was helping maintain what little control he had of his new-found abilities and his anger was not helping the matter, he could feel the tremors start throughout his body and knew that he would have another 'attack' if this carried on for much longer. 

David slowly rose from his chair lifting his hands to try to placate the woman, "OK, OK, I'm sorry, there's no need for this to go any further." He turned his head to the waiter, "Can I have my bill please? I'll meet you at the cash-till once I've picked my things." The waiter nodded, silent gratitude permeating from every pore of his body. The husband had significantly relaxed from his, almost foetal, position by the front door and gradually moved nearer to his dominant other.

But the woman was on a roll. "You damn Brits think you're so damn superior," She spat, "But you should be thanking us Americans for your position in the world. We've bailed you out of two World Wars and then, when we need your help in Vietnam, you turn and run from the fight. I don't know why any daughter of mine would want to live in a country like this."

David could think of a few reasons and felt only sympathy for the poor girl. Fancy travelling to a country on the other side of the world in an attempt to extricate herself from these freaks of nature and then they turn up and start hassling the locals. His mind was racing to think of ways out of the situation , he couldn't take much more of this abuse without succumbing to the tension in this place and, quite literally, letting loose but the woman wasn't letting up. She stood only a few feet away from him and he could feel her anger intensify as she continued ranting. 

He tried to block her out and just let her finish but it was no good, there was no way to relax enough that he could control his abilities. He closed his eyes, fighting a impossible struggle with his own body but it was to no avail. The woman suddenly became silent and when David opened his eyes he could see why, his whole body had begun to ripple in front of them. The steaks of lightening increased in intensity and with a cry of pain and joy, David lost control.

***

Bobby was happy, not only had the Beast managed to produce six Twinkies from his fridge but had also managed to procure a box of Sugar-Bombs as well, which he was happily munching through as they touched down at Heathrow Airport. They had also been lucky with the flights and had managed to get tickets for an almost immediate departure, coupled with Hank's unique, and large, physique - even with an image-inducer safely turned so not to attract any unnecessary attention - that always required First Class seats Bobby was very content. 

As they collected their luggage from the carousel, he began griping that the Heathrow administration that there was no special section for 'Superhero's'.

"Come on Blue, we've saved this world more times than I can remember, you'd think that the least they could do was to not make us wait for our bags!"

"Again, Robert," Hank dead-panned, slapping his friend on the back and knocking the wind out of him, "You have discovered the essence of our troubles with the Homo Sapian community. Do you think Magneto would call an end to arms if they agreed to a faster turn around time with our luggage? Here I was thinking I was the genius but I can only cower beneath the unfettered intellect that stands before me!"

"And don't you forget it." Bobby replied happily. 

Minutes ticked by as passengers arrived and left with their respective luggage, leaving the two feeling rather low and bored. Bobby saw something creep into his field of vision. "There they are!" He exclaimed, "Lets get 'em quick so we can blow this popsicle stand before I have to cover the entire area with an interesting new colour scheme called 'Hint of Ice'!" He grabbed the first bag and started running towards the exit as fast as he could.

"Thank god for that." Bobby said, slowing down after finally finding the front entrance to the airport and slamming his bag down onto the floor so he could sit on it and rest for a while. "I thought I was going to freak out in there, what's the time?"

"A quarter to six Robert," Hank replied, catching up to his friend, three suitcase's perched uncomfortably on his person. "And may I suggest that you not sit upon my luggage, the Professors mobile Cerebro unit is housed within its confines and I would hate to have to attempt the tracking of this mutant without the necessary equipment."

"Whoops, sorry about that Blue."

"No harm done, lets get it out and have a stab at finding this David before dinner-time shall we? If successful we could take him out to dinner and let him get acquainted with us before we take him back to the mansion."

"Sounds good Hankster, lets go."

***

"I'm telling you it's left." Hank argued, it had been an hour since leaving the airport and they were slowing closing in on their target. Bobby sat on the passenger seat, analysing the readings from Cerebro and shacking his head in response to his friends statement.

"Yeah right, have you got your glasses on?" He joked, " It's so right I can't believe you're saying left."

"You, my hypothermically inclined friend, have the navigational skills of a small child, while I, the blushing, blue, Beast, have…"

"The biggest brain and, downright, biggest incisors I've ever seen but no more skills in the direction department than I do!" Bobby interrupted. "Come on Hank, do you remember the time we went on a Midnight Twinkie run in California? You were sure you knew exactly where we were going but somehow managed to drive us from Los Angeles to Las Vegas when the nearest shop was no more than ten minutes away!"

Hank thought for a moment, "Ok, right but I have to add into the record of this journey that I am against such blatant use of 'older-than-six-month' material in a an attempt to sway my judgement."

"Whatever Blue, just step on the gas please, I'm starving and the sooner we find David the sooner we can eat." Bobby glanced at the mobile Cerebro unit, "We're getting closer, the signal's getting stronger as we're approaching him."

"It's not supposed to do that." Hank said grimly.

"What do you mean?"

"The signal isn't supposed to get stronger unless the actual power signature of the mutant increases."

"Which is bad, yeah?"

"Very." Hank replied, the mood growing more sober and anxious, he sneaked a glance at the unit, "How far out are we?"

"Not far, if we get round this corner then it should be straight down for a few blocks and we're there." Bobby said, "Do you think I should ice up and get over there.?"

"Not yet Robert. It'll only bring attention to the boy's plight and if nothing has happened to cause alarms then it will have alerted the population to our presence. Get out and run down there, you'll probably be faster than I will be in all this traffic, haven't these people heard about global warming?"

"Probably not Blue, I'll see you down there."

"Try not to use your powers unless absolutely necessary Bobby."

Bobby waved an arm behind him, letting Hank know he was heard, and ran down the road as fast as he could, he'd left the Cerebro unit in the car but had memorised the location of the mutant and hurried to the location. He had almost got there when he heard a scream erupt from a restaurant just in front of him. Fearing for the worst he ran through the entrance and stopped cold.

In front of him was a man about the same age as he was but was glowing and gradually getting brighter. He could see the man's face, it was contorted with concentration, like he was trying his hardest to overcome whatever was happening to him, electric pulses seemed to be moving up and down his body in some random pattern.

Bobby slowly moved towards him. "David?" He said gently. "Please, don't be afraid I'm not the police, I'm simply here to help you."

David unclenched his eyes and looked towards the new person in the room. "Wh-Who are you? I can't control this for much longer, I don't want to hurt anyone."

"I know David." Bobby kept his eyes on David as he began to gradually shepherd the other people out of the restaurant. Most of them had been too shocked to move but, there was an obviously American couple that were standing quite close to David and he gently grabbed them by their arms, "Ma'am," he whispered to the woman," I'd suggest that you'd better get out of here now" She silently nodded and turned towards the door, the man looked as if he was about to cry. 

"My name is Bobby Drake, I'm here to help you." He said finally after they had been left alone. "I know you must be scared and terrified of what is happening to you."

"How could you?" David interrupted accusingly, " You can't possibly know what it's like to see your body change in front of your very eyes."

"Actually David, I do." With that Booby took a quick glance out of the window and then turned back, he began to ice over, flesh and bone turning into living ice, his features and body taking on a much more defined look. David gasped at the sight. 

"I'm a mutant like you," He continued, "But I've learned to control my powers and use them for the good of the world, I'm an X-man." He said proudly and realised just how much that actually meant to him.

David eyes widened, his tension slowly dissipating as he saw what he could only describe at that moment as a kindred spirit. "You're a mutant?"

"Yep, and proud of it." Bobby smiled, he could see that the gamble had paid off, David was gradually powering down, he could see the other man's body relax visibly and felt that now would be the time to power-down himself. "I live in America with a team called the X-men, you may have heard of them." He asked quizingly, if David knew about them then it would be useful to see how he feels about the team.

"Yeah, I've heard of 'em," David smiled and began walking slowly towards Bobby, he suddenly realised he had returned to his normal state and gave out a huge sigh of relief. "Thank god for that, I thought I was going to kill someone again."

At that moment the Beast raced through the entrance and into the dining area, "Bobby?" He called out, "Are you OK?"

"Fine Blue." Bobby smiled gently, he motioned with his hands to stay back and relaxed then turned back to face David. "David, I'd like you to meet my best friend, Hank McCoy, aka the Beast." He lifted his arms in the direction of Hank and made an exaggerated bow in an attempt to lighten the mood.

David gave a broad smile in the direction of Hank, "The Beast?" He said, hero-worship etched in his voice, "I've always wanted to meet you, but aren't you blue?"

"Usually dear boy." Hank replied warmly, shaking David's hand as he offered it to him. "But I'm sure you can agree that walking around a strange city while covered head to foot in blue fur does make you somewhat of a spectacle and a frightening sight." David nodded in agreement while Hank continued on a more serious note. "As much as I hate to cut this conversation short I'm afraid that time is of the essence, we must be away before your 'boys in blue', as it were, arrive and attempt to arrest you David, I suggest we try the back door."

***

It was a good while until they stopped running, the coast was clear, in all honesty they had probably lost their tail a long time ago. With Bobby using his abilities to ice up every lock and Hank taking advantage of his strength to place large obstacles in their way, the police had no chance of catching them. Bobby had managed to evade the helicopters by cooling the moisture in the air above them, creating rain clouds and a torrential downpour that was so thick that they couldn't fly in the area around the trio.

They had managed to travel a fair distance, using the tubes and trains, sudden showers enveloped them whenever they headed into the outside to ensure that no-one could have followed them.

"Well that's one problem," David said, bending over and placing his hands on his knees, he was wheezing hard and felt a lot less fit than either of the two men in front of him. "But how the hell do we get out of the country? As soon as I go near an airport I'm bound to be picked up."

"Never fear David I have already called for back-up." Hank replied, eager to see his reaction to the technological marvel the young man was about to witness. "We were hoping that it would be possible to get you out without much trouble but we have other means of transport than just the commercial sector." 

With that he pointed into the sky and directed David to a huge plane in the sky, it was a giant machine but made hardly any sound, as it began to land he could feel, and see, the force of the engines on himself and the ground but the noise was surprisingly low. He looked, dumbfounded at the Beast, "How is that possible?" He asked

"We can discuss it later but right now we must depart this fair country and return to our base of operations in America. It is your choice to come us David, if you do not wish it, you can go back and we will never bother you again."

"Not go with you?!" David exclaimed, amazed that Hank had even given it thought that he would not join them. "You gotta be kidding mate, this is a once in a lifetime chance and if you can help me control my powers then for the sake of everyone I hold dear I've got to go with you."

Hank smiled, he had felt an instant liking for this lad, he was like Bobby in a lot of ways, and knew that this was no cold-blooded killer as soon as he had laid eyes on him. Bobby had told him about how much David had tried to control himself in the restaurant and felt sure that this was the right course of action. Concerns be damned.


	4. Interlude 1

Here's the disclaimer part. All the X-men characters are Marvel's, obviously, David, Alex and Danny are mine, if you want to use them then go right ahead. Please, please, please review for me!

Interlude 1

"So what your saying," Danny asked incredulously ,"Is that my big brother ran away from a murder that he could never have committed because he's a bloody mutant?". The past few hours had been hell for him and Alex alike. The police had screamed bloody murder after they found that David had 'disappeared' from the hospital. Alex had stayed tight-lipped about the whole thing, pointedly refusing to admit that David had come to see him and making it plain to everyone, including his friends family, that he could see no reason why his friend had taken such an unwise course of action.

"Look Dan," Alex began, he watched the young man pace up and down the room, wearing a hole in the floor and the man's patience. Telling the kid had forced him to revisit the events of that night a little too soon for his liking and was having a hard time keeping his own emotions in check without having to worry about Danny's. He had enough shit on his mind. "I know it sounds far fetched but the truth of the matter is that David **was **responsible for what happened to Sam. He didn't mean to do what he did but he had no control over his powers, in fact, from what he told me he didn't even know he was a mutant until the shock of the attack triggered his abilities."

"And now he's gone again, disappeared off the face of the bloody earth it looks like." Danny looked out of the window, lost in his own thoughts, the hurt in his voice was evident to Alex and the older man found himself lost for words. "A mutant, a bloody mutant Al, I can't believe it, Dave isn't like those other muties though, man their gonna take him apart."

Alex looked at Danny warily, "What do you mean Dan?"

Danny gave Alex a questioning look, "What do I mean? I mean these muties are bad news, look at what they've done around the world. You've seen what destruction they can cause."

"But that's not all of them is it?" Alex retorted, "What about the groups that fight these other people and put their lives on the line for human and mutant alike? It's not just mutants they fight either," He continued, "There's plenty of despots and corrupt humans that they battle as well. " He paused and, in a softer tone - almost inaudible to Danny - he said, "Mutants aren't the only ones with the ability to kill and destroy Dan."

Danny bowed his head and closed his eyes, fighting the demons of irrational hate, and replied in the same hushed tone, "I know, but they just …..scare me." He turned to look at Alex, "Some of them can do things that I couldn't even believe is possible, and what if David was attacked or coerced into joining the wrong side? I just don't think I could take that."

"I know mate," Alex replied softly, his thoughts lost to wondering where his friend was, "I know."


	5. Chapter 4

Part 4

Here's the disclaimer part. All the X-men characters are Marvel's, sue me and I'll be forced to sell my beloved used-tissue collection which would break my heart! David, Alex and Danny are mine, if you want to use them then go right ahead. Please, please, please review! Cheers

****

Part 4

"It is!"

It is not!"

"It is!"

"I'm telling you, Robert, that 'ProV' is not a word you can legitimately use when playing scrabble." Hank McCoy retorted.

Bobby gave his best puppy-dog look, "But I haven't got any other words, AND" He exclaimed, "If I used that I'd get lotsa points and you wouldn't feel so bad about beating me by over two hundred points!"

Hank sighed, "That would constitute an infraction of the rules my walking popsicle of a pal, and there will be none of that while I'm within flattening distance of your Twinkie collection."

Bobby pulled his face into a mock-pained expression, "You wouldn't dare!" He turned to the other player, " David," he pleaded, "What do you think?"

"What?" David said innocently, wrenched from the safety of concentrating on his scrabble board, he looked up at the two and held his hands up in surrender, "Hey, don't look at me mate, you dig your own grave with this one," he joked.

It had been a couple of days since his sudden appearance at the X-men's headquarters and he finally felt like he was starting to fit in. The rest of the team had gradually introduced themselves to him, some with more success than others he thought, and seemed very welcoming but he still only really felt comfortable around Bobby and Hank. The first evening meal he went to had been an experience in itself. When he had initially met them individually, he couldn't see how such a seemingly random assemblage of characters and personalities could possibly function as a team, but that evening proved otherwise. Sure they were different but they had grown into a tight-knit family of friends, one which he wasn't sure he could carve his own little niche into.

The dinner turned out to be a large affair with a good many people attending, David sat near to one of the ends and began to feel a little uncomfortable around so many new faces. He replied to any questions that were asked of him but was too nervous to really carry on any conversations . It would have stayed like that had Bobby not been 'thoughtful' enough to include him in the proceedings of the meal by freezing his drink, when he was just about to take a sip. That made everyone act nervously until David had broken the silence by laughing and sending a carefully concealed raw egg, that Hank had given him - for that very reason - before the meal had begun, the Iceman's way. It turned out that most had kept something hidden and a food fight ensued that helped break the tension just that little more. 

Now he, Hank and Bobby were killing time until the final results of the analysis on his powers was ready to look at. The testing had taken longer than he cared for, the smell of antiseptic and the sight of sterilised rooms reminded him of the hospital he had left his best friend in and had to go outdoors for a while, claiming a need for a breath of fresh air. He had discussed the recent events in his life with the Professor, but everyone else had given him time to get used to being in the mansion, which had made it a lot easier. Especially after being poked and prodded around all over the place with Hank occasionally muttering, "Hmm, interesting, " or other doctor-like phrases. 

It had been the second part of the testing that he had enjoyed. After a day spent cooped up in the lab with Hank, he was greeted by a number of the X-men, including Xavier, and was ushered into a room that had never been shown to him before.

***

"This," The Professor said, gesturing with his left arm, "Is what we like to call the Danger room."

"The Danger room?" David replied, sounding a little uncertain. He looked around, it seemed to be all but empty, with four bare, metal, walls except for a rectangular window at the top of one of them that seemed to house all manner of electronic equipment. "Sounds…….good! Um, when do we go to the Safety room?"

A chuckle could be heard coming from the trio of Wolverine, Gambit and Iceman, while Cyclops and the lady called Storm gave out a long-suffering sigh and crossed their arms 

The Professor continued unfazed, "The tests will be at different stages, firstly we will see what you are able to do with your powers, then we will put you up against some people and see how you fare."

"Some of these people?" David asked, indicating the others in the room, "Hey Prof, I'm pretty certain I've got some kind of, um, offensive ability but isn't that a little bit like taking a lamb to the slaughter?"

Xavier caught David's eyes with a knowing glance, "We will see David, but before that we have to gauge your power levels and abilities on your own. We will be watching and controlling the environment from the room above." He said, indicating the window David and noticed earlier.

"And from there you'll be able to create, holograms of anything or anyone that you want?" David asked, Xavier nodded. "Wow, so this place is like some, holodeck, bloody hell!"

The others filed out of the room and David was left on his own, suddenly the room seemed to shimmer and he found himself in the middle of an open grassland with no walls evidently apparent. 

"Woah, that's trippy."

He heard a voice come from, what felt like all around, "Now, " Xavier began, "Just try to activate your powers." 

"Um, ookay, um, how do I do that exactly?"

"Just concentrate," The voice said, "And try to find a source of energy within you and then draw upon it in an as controlled manner as possible."

"Right, gotcha, that easy huh?" 

"Just close your eyes and try to relax David, it's perfectly safe, you won't hurt anyone."

David paused and hung his head, memory's of the night he killed Sam came flooding back, the guilt that he had had over the death of someone - no matter how deranged he had become - by his own hands was, and will be, an emotional crutch he will be haunted with for the rest of his life. Slowly, he nodded to the voice, relaxed, and closed his eyes. 

The world around him seemed to disappear, as he drew further and further into himself David felt something tug at him. He began to make out a ball of energy that hovered below him, just out of reach. He began to stretch to it and found the energy slither into his open-palmed hand. The energy built up and he felt the same sensations as he did in the restaurant. Keeping his concentration on the ball, he opened his eyes to see small streaks of lightening run up and down his body, gradually moving faster and faster until he was bathed in an iridescent glow. As he drew in the last of the energy the glow faded to show a translucent body, clearly David in appearance but more defined, as if he were made out of solid air.

David looked down on his new body and gasped, " Now that," He said in a more monotone voice, "Is bloody weird."

"Quite," Came the voice, 

Gambit, Wolverine and Iceman sat at the back of the operations room, watching the situation unfold.

"Wow, tres cool non?"

"Yer right Gumbo, that's a pretty impressive stunt, transforming his whole body into, what the hell is that anyway?"

"What do you mean?" Iceman asked, "I transform my whole body into ice, ice is cool, isn't it?" He added hopefully.

"Non mon ami ice is cold, now dis" Gambit replied, pointing to the man below them, "Dis, is cool."

"Remy, Logan, please remain quiet." The Professor spoke over his shoulder. Turning his attention back to the events below him. "Now, David, lets see what you can do."

David gritted his teeth and concentrated on performing the same feat that had dealt with Sam only five days ago. There was something wrong, no matter what he tried he couldn't seem to do anything. "Um, Prof? I don't seem to be able to do anything, can you create some kind of target for me?"

"Hold on," Suddenly a number of human shaped figures appeared as if out of nowhere and gradually advanced towards David.

"Right, come on then you bloody idiots, it's time to be smashed by 'Bizarre Air Boy', " He quipped, then concentrated on the nearest figure. Imagining a block of energy like a battering-ram streaking towards his opponent, he tried to push it out of his chest and suddenly realised that it had worked. The intended victim of the attack was hurled through the air before landing roughly over a hundred feet away. 

David grinned, "Now that, I like!" He exclaimed while finishing off the other attackers in the same way. "Hey, give us a few more Prof, " He yelled up to the window, "I could get into this!"

Up in the observation room, Wolverine tried to hold in a chuckle while the rest watched in startled silence as David proceeded to destroy wave after wave of attackers below them. "Gotta hand it to the kid," He joked, "He knows how ta enjoy himself!"

"Don't be too quick to judge," Cyclops interrupted as he began typing on the console in front of him, "Let's see how he fares at the higher levels and some added weaponry."

As David finished off the last of characters, the entire room shifted again into a desolate urban wasteland. The place was filled with high rise buildings, some of which had fallen on their sides, leaving chunks of concrete strewn around and becoming obstacles in his path. David glanced around, mapping out the place in his head while trying to keep watch for enemies. Suddenly there was an explosion too the right of him and he was knocked onto the floor, the sound of gunshots could be heard hitting the beam of concrete that lay in front of him. 

David looked around, no obvious ways of getting round to them, but why not just go through them? He thought and an idea struck him. Turning to face the pillar in front of him, David imagined his hands morphing into two flat appendages, he slid them under the concrete and tried to lift it. It was surprisingly light and, while the bullets ricocheted off of it, he stood up facing the gunmen, concentrated on the block and a created another battering-ram from his chest that sent the pillar flying in the direction of the attackers. 

"Goddess."

"Wow."

"Mon dieu, " gasped Gambit, "Dis boy be powerful non?"

"We'll see" Cyclops said, "Wolverine, Gambit, get in there."

The two exchanged a smirking glance and, after Logan had stubbed out his cigar, they exited the observation room.

***

He'd had his arse handed to him when the others came in to 'play' but he had learnt a lot about his powers. Most importantly of all, he had been able to construct a conscious trigger which would allow him to control the manifestation of his abilities. Now all that was between him and a nice looking chair in the lounge was the final results.

"Come on Hank, I can't take all the waiting." David said impatiently, he hopped onto one of the tables and began to twiddle his thumbs.

"All in good time David," Came the reply, "I've just got a few more details to attend to and then I will give you all the information you require."

His impatience rising, David began to look around the room, other than the Beast and himself, Xavier and, _Um, Scott, that's it,_ were there to hear the final results and he still felt pretty uncomfortable around those two. Cyclops seemed to be a bit detached from the rest of the group, although his wife was a hottie, he had hardly seen him with anything remotely resembling a smile on his face and was perturbed by this apparent lack of emotion. The same could be said for the Professor, _The perils of leadership_ He thought.

"Well, that's it, lets begin " Hank said, pulling some notes from the printer and turning to face the other three. "Basically David you have the ability to turn your body into some form of living force-field, this means, as well as being nigh-on invulnerable, you also have a host of offensive and defensive options at your disposal. We have already witnessed your battering-ram, as you so eloquently put it, and your ability to morph parts of your body but these are only a glimpse of your true capabilities. Even at this stage of your development you are quite a powerful mutant but you have the potential to go even further."

David stared, dumbfounded, at Hank. He never thought that his 'gift' would amount to much but to hear talk of being truly powerful, well, it's enough to blow anyone's mind. 

Good? Alright? Absolute bollocks? Let me know!


	6. Chapter 5

Part 5

Here's the disclaimer part. All the X-men characters are Marvel's, sue me and I'll be forced to sell my beloved used-tissue collection which would break my heart! David, Alex and Danny are mine, if you want to use them then go right ahead. Thanks to Andy (you know who you are)for the codenames. Oh, by the way, this story isn't set in any particular time period, I'm just using what characters I want to use and ignoring the ones that I don't. Please, please, please review! Cheers 

Part 5

It was ten o'clock by the time Iceman poked his head round the entrance to his new-found friends door, "David?" 

"Be right there Bobby," Came the reply, "Come in, make yourself at home, ack! Oh bugger."

"Are you alright in there?" The younger man asked, entering David's room and having a look around. 

"Yeah, I'm fine, just still having trouble with razor blades that's all." David replied, coming out of the bathroom and holding a piece of tissue to a bloody spot on his chin. "Next time I'll probably slit my own throat." He mused, a sad-looking grin aimed his friend's way.

"Death by shaving huh? Doesn't sound like a way I'd want to go." 

"I can think of worse," David said distantly, losing himself in his own thoughts. He shook himself back to reality and looked at Bobby. "So, what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Have you already forgotten last night? He asked incredulously, "The ladies got so tired of seeing you in the same old clothes, day in, day out, that their forcing you to go shopping for some new stuff."

David looked at his friend with a horrified expression. "Oh jeez, they were serious?" He absolutely, completely hated shopping. The last time he went was, well, he couldn't exactly remember the last time but he was sure he hadn't enjoyed it.

Bobby smirked, "Uh huh, you'd better believe it, you're in for it this afternoon. You never know it might cheer you up a bit. After all, there's worse things than going shopping with some of the most beautiful women I've ever seen."

David gave out an amused snort, "Every woman in this bloody estate is beautiful, is it part of their mutation or something?"

"You know, you could be onto something there, we should probably pass it by Hank and see what he thinks."

David grinned, "Not after his reaction when he us told to hop it after interrupting him in the middle of what looked like a pretty big experiment just to find out if 'Shazam' could be used in scrabble. I don't think he'd take kindly to it at all."

"I believe his exact words were, 'Robert Drake if I ever find you within threatening distance of my lab I will smash you to small pieces and use you to cool down my drink', or something like that anyway!" Bobby smiled at his friend, he really did need some new clothes, it seemed that even Logan had more than him. But the main reason for this shopping expedition was that they had all realised that David was having a hard time coming to terms with the recent events in his life and he needed to get out and relax for a bit.

So much had happened to him in such a short space of time that he hadn't been able to fully come to terms with any of it and that it included the, however justified, killing of a fellow human being.

David eyed the younger man sneakily, "You know, I did save you from a fate worse than death back there in the lab. I reckon you owe me one."

"Owe you one, what?" Bobby asked warily.

"A favour Bobster, and I think the best time for you to pay me it back is right about now!"

Bobby cringed, "Oh no, you can't be serious."

David eyed him triumphantly, " Oh yes mate," He looked at the now visibly unhappy man, his shoulders dropping in defeat. "Look at it this way Bob," he said, grinning and strolling happily past Bobby and down to the ladies waiting in the hallway. "There's worse things than going shopping with some of the most beautiful women I've ever seen."

***

Bobby got out of the car and cringed at the sight of the shopping mall, he hadn't even considered coming on this trip until David had roped him into tagging along, not that he could all together blame him. All in all six people had decided to come along and so they had used the people carrier to take them. Jean had driven while Ororo had taken the passenger seat. Kitty was in the middle beside Jubilee with David and Bobby sitting next to the doors.

"So, " Jean said , locking up the car and joining the group up to the entrance, "Where shall we go first?"

"We have gotta do something about David's wardrobe first." Jubilee said, casting a measuring look at the Brits clothes.

David rolled his eyes, resigned amusement clear in his expression, "Alright, alright I can take a hint, let's just this over with yeah?" He nudged Bobby, getting the man's attention and whispering to him, "I'm glad you're here to enjoy this experience with me!"

Bobby gave him an unhappy, beaten look and trudged behind them as Jubilee dragged the group towards the nearest men's shop.

***

Never had he been pushed into such an unbelievable amount of shops, never had he been forced to endure three hours of continuous shopping, but David had never managed to amass a bigger collection of clothes than the one that he and the rest of the group were desperately trying to hold onto as they moved towards the food court. He and Bobby, who had actually began to enjoy himself, were shown so many different items that his head had begun to spin with the confusion and, after a few protests from Jubilee who had wanted to carry on, they had decided to rest for lunch before returning to the mansion. Three of the ladies and Bobby had gone to buy the food while David and Kitty were left to find a table. 

"So, " Kitty said as the two of them eventually found one and could finally put the mountain of shopping bags on the floor, "Are you enjoying yourself?"

"Well it beats getting the shit kicked out of me by Logan in the Danger room," He replied grinning, "You know, I think that man enjoys fighting just a little too much to be healthy."

The young woman smirked and nodded in agreement with him, "You don't know how right you are, but when you have a healing factor as strong as Wolverine's, the need to take care of yourself never really comes into the equation. But we're not here to talk about Logan," She said, pausing to catch David's eyes with a concerned look, "We've all noticed you've become a little distant lately and we were wondering how your holding up?"

David stiffened at her words, "I'm fine cheers Kit." He said as bluntly as he could, hoping she would take the hint and change the subject.

"Bullshit," She snorted, in a tone that made it clear that she wasn't going to accept anything other than the truth. "It's hard enough to discover you're a mutant," She continued in a softer voice, "Let alone be forced away from your friends and family for something that you had no control over."

David looked into her eyes and knew that, whether she was telepathic or not, this was someone who would know when you were lying. He couldn't help but feel a certain empathy with Kitty, being roughly the same age helped things along between them but it would take a fool not to see that he was attracted to her in more than just a friendship way. 

"Fine," David muttered, crumbling under her gaze, "What do you want me to say? I've killed someone, however mental they were, that man is dead because of me, do you think I should regret it? Cos I don't, not for an instant." He paused to see Kitties reaction but all he found was concern and an unwavering projection of understanding., _shit,_ he thought,_ she's not gonna make this easy for me. _He gave out a sigh and continued. "Granted, it would have been better for everyone concerned if he hadn't died but when all's said and done, he had tried to murder me and ended up crippling my best friend. In my humble opinion the bastard got what he deserved and can rot where-ever those kind of people go, although I'm sure I'll be seeing him again sooner or later."

"So you think that you are, for lack of a better word, damned for your actions?"

"Pretty much, " He replied, playing nervously with his hands, shame and guilt plastered on his face for all to see.

"You don't believe that a person can atone for his sins?" She asked trying to stay calm, wanting more than anything to show him just how wrong he was.

"It depends on the original sin," He replied matter-of-factly, "The only way you can truly atone for killing someone would be to resurrect them. However many other lives I manage to save in the future, I'll always be a murderer."

"You are not a murderer," Kitty interrupted, barely able to contain her frustration at his words, "However responsible you think you were for that man's death you had no control over your actions and therefore no say in the outcome." She moved her hand across the table to cover one of David's and carried on in a more soothing tone." If he had never attacked you, it would never have happened. You were defending yourself David, and don't you dare believe otherwise."

"As simple as that eh?" David caught her eyes, his mouth quirking upwards at the corners in a sad grin.

"Sometimes that's how it has to be, " Kitty said softly, keeping in eye-contact and griping his hand a little tighter, willing him to believe it.

"Hey, what's all this?" Bobby said as he approached the table with a mountain of food stacked up in his hands. "Don't I get to hold your hand as well?!" He joked as David quickly, but a little slower than was normal he noted, pulled his hand away from Kitties grasp and looked up at his friend.

"You can try but you'll find a, more than solid, force-field making speedy contact with your face if you even think about it." David mock-threatened. "Now where's my burger and chips?"

"Chips?" He said, getting confused, "I thought you wanted fries?" 

David rolled his eyes, "I think you'd better sit down before you fall down Bobster," He replied jokingly.

Bobby, looking none the wiser, turned to Kitty and gave her a questioning look.

"He meant fries Bobby," Kitty said, trying to hide her amusement at her friend's confusion. "They call them chips in England."

After taking a moment to digest this latest titbit of information, Bobby nodded in understanding, "I getcha, jeez, and you fellas are the ones who were supposed to have invented this language."

"We did," David replied, making his way through the bags in search of his meal, "But then you lot came along and ripped it up a bit. The only yank I've met who uses it properly is Hank and he uses it better than most of us do." He joked.

"That's probably why I only understand about half of what he says!"

David looked at Kitty and grinned, "I still think he should sit down."

***

"So what's it gonna be then mister all-powerful mutant!?"

David grinned at Bobby and asked the group round the table pleadingly, "Do I have to have one? Can't I just use my name?"

"Well I for one ain't gonna start calling ya Dave in the middle of a fight." Jubilee stated.

"Jubilation is right," Ororo agreed, "It is a, if you will, necessary evil David, you really must have one. We can always decide for you but I think it would be preferable that you liked the codename as well."

"Oh all right," He said, resigned to the idea, "Have any of you got some suggestions?"

Bobby piped up, " What was it you said in your first Danger room session, Bizarro Air-Boy!?"

Kitty and Jubilee both tried to hold back an amused chuckle at the name. It had become something of a nickname since Bobby had first used it after coming out of the session. 

David cringed, "Somehow I don't think so mate, anyone with a decent suggestion?"

"Well most of our names are related to the nature of our powers, " Jean said, "So how about 'Force'?" 

"How about 'Field'!"

"Be quiet Robert," Ororo said sternly, "If you have nothing serious to add to the conversation I suggest you try not to contribute anything at all."

"What do you mean?" He grinned, a mock pained expression on his face, "It was serious!"

"Well, putting that aside for the moment," David replied, smiling at his friend, "It still isn't really my cup of tea." 

"How about Air?"

"Vortex?"

"Pulse?"

David stopped them, "Pulse is good, I like Pulse, snappy yet forceful, mysterious yet strangely memorable!" He said, as if judging the name in a competition. "Yeah, I could go for that."

"Well then, it is settled," Storm said as she began to clear away the pile of rubbish left on the table, "May I suggest we put the waste in the bins and return to the mansion."

"You've got my vote." Bobby stated and began to pick up the remaining boxes and bags, eager to leave the mall as soon as possible. "I've had about as much of this place as I can take."

"Me too, " David agreed, getting to his feet and helping Bobby out. "Lets get the hell out of here." 

***

Kitty Pryde came through the front door of the mansion, strolled down the hallway and into the mansion's kitchen. Finding no-one in the most common get-together site she moved through the school and noticed how suspiciously quiet it was for the time of day. She came upon the lounge, entering it she looked around the room and spotted a ever-increasingly familiar face lying on the sofa, his attention focused on the magazine he was reading. A mischievous grin lit up her face, she moved gracefully out of his line-of-sight and began to slowly creep up behind him. When she had managed to crawl right next to the end of the couch she sprang up shouting, "Dave!"

"Woah!" David jumped up like a cat on steroids and twisted round to see Kitty standing in front of him, hands at her hips and a wide grin etched on her face. "Bloody hell Kit," He said, still slightly shocked, his arm came up to cradle the heart that the young woman had so nearly stopped with her sudden outburst. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack or what?"

"Just thought I'd see if you were still alive." Kitty said, still holding the grin, "Although I suppose that article must be pretty good if I managed to get all the way up here without you noticing."

"You'd think so but I'm still pretty bad at that kind of thing." He said, returning her smile. "Every time I'm in the Danger room I get caught out by some git attacking me from behind. Logan and Gumbo are getting a bit frustrated with it I think."

"I see you've picked up Logan's nickname for Remy then?" She said, smiling at the gradually relaxing (_and pretty darn cute_ - she added to herself) man. Kitty moved towards the sofa and David obediently shuffled further up so that she could sit down next to him. 

"Yeah well, if I'm gonna be stuck with Bizarro Air-Boy for the rest of my stay here then I reckon I've got to take every opportunity to get something as bad for the rest of you." He said, grinning wickedly.

"I bet," She said as she flopped onto the sofa beside him. "So where is everyone? I've been through the whole place and there doesn't seem to be anyone else around."

"They've gone off on a mission or something," David replied casually as he flipped through the magazine he was holding. "I don't think it was anything too big and they said to tell you not to worry about not being here when they went." He added after seeing his friends expression turn into a mixture of worry and guilt for not be there.

Secretly pleased to be able to spend a quiet moment with the man, Kitty turned her attention onto David, "Ah well, I'm sure it's nothing they can't handle."

"You betcha," David replied, he sat up and moved to put what he was reading onto the coffee table in front of them. 

Kitty reached over and took the magazine out of his grasp. "Four Four Two?" She inquired, smiling questioningly at David.

"It's a football magazine, " David stated simply, "It's about the only way I get to keep up with the news now that I'm in American football country. Unless, of course, I stay up until about three in the morning to watch some crappy half-hour long programme on it ." He said, unable to keep the slight bitterness out of his voice.

Kitty eyed him thoughtfully, "You miss it don't you?"

"What?"

"Home."

Her words hit him right at his weakest spot, "Yeah, I do," He said miserably, taking the magazine from her and randomly flicking through the pages. "All the time." David looked up to see Kitty waiting for him to continue." I just wish I could be there for Alex right now, just at the time that he needs me the most I have to run away to the other side of the sodding world."

Kitty didn't say anything, instead she pulled the young man closer to her and into a hug. 

"I know that what you're going through must be tough, "She whispered into his ear, "But always remember that I'm willing to listen and help in any way that I can, and so are the rest of the team." 

"Cheers Kit," David said softly, he moved into the embrace and held on for a while, enjoying the feeling of comfort it brought.

Hesitantly breaking away from the hug, Kitty looked at David and smiled. "How about a session in the Danger room? We could work on some of the problems your having." She asked.

"Yeah, alright," He replied, returning her smile, "Why not."

Whatcha think? Let me know!


	7. Chapter 6

Here's the disclaimer part. All the X-men characters are Marvel's, sue me and I'll be forced to sell my beloved used-tissue collection which would break my heart! David, Alex and Danny are mine, if you want to use them then go right ahead. Please, please, please review! Cheers

Part 6

"What the bloody hell is that alarm for?" David shouted sleepily as he rushed out of his bedroom only to slam straight into Logan, sending them both to the floor. "Sorry about that mate." He said, sheepishly.

Wolverine got up with an almost impossibly deep growl coming from him, "Just watch your step bub or next time you won't just lose your footing." And with that, turned away and ran down towards the War room.

"Well, aren't we all just happy campers this morning," David muttered  as he followed the X-man down the stairs. " Hey, Rogue!" He called out as he saw her emerging out of the women's wing of the mansion. "What the hells going on? Is there a fire or something?"

"It ain't no fire sugah, " She said as they met at the top of the stairs." Sound's like there's something going on that needs the X-men's attention, why doncha come along? There ain't many of the team around at the moment and we might need y'all."

"Um, sure! If you think that'd be ok?" 

Since his arrival at the mansion, the X-men had gone on a number of missions but he had never taken part in them. His training in the Danger room had definitely paid off and he was gaining greater control over his powers every day but it still didn't mean that he was anything remotely resembling the finished article.

"We might need ya as backup, in case anything goes wrong or sumthing." Rogue put a supportive arm around his shoulders as they entered the lift. "Don't worry sugah" She said, "Y'all be fine."

***

"We've had report's coming in of a disturbance in Genosha," Cyclops began, his concentration focused on the screen as it displayed all the available information on the situation. "It seems a number of mutants have attacked a city in the northern part of the country and are causing widespread damage throughout the area." 

Turning to look at the occupants in the room, he saw Wolverine continuing to chew on the end of his cigar, Gambit simply displayed an evil grin and carried on shuffling his cards while the Professor sat in the corner, his attention focused on something on the other side of the room. Cyclops followed his gaze and saw Rogue and Shadowcat at the other end of the table whispering to David.

"David?"

"Uh, yes?"

"What are you doing here?" He asked, clearly shocked at the young man's presence in the room.

"Ah asked him to come, "Rogue interjected, "We don't have many team members at the moment and ah thought we could use the help."

"Well, this isn't going to be a walk in the park and I don't think David's up to this sort of challenge just yet."

"Ah, give the kid a break One Eye," Wolverine growled, "He's been givin' me a decent fight lately," David and Kitty looked at each other and smiled. "He'll hold his own."

"Gambit agree wit Logan on dis one, " The Cajun added, leaning back on his chair and planting his feet on the table. "What can I say, de boy have good teachers non?"

Rogue playfully swiped his feet off the table, "Obviously not very good manners though, swamp rat."

Cyclops looked at David questioningly, "Do you think you're ready?"

The rest of the room all turned to look at the man as he shuffled nervously in his chair. "A trial by fire huh? Well I know I've got a long way to go with my powers but I'd like to help if I could."

The X-man thought for a while, "Ok, you're on the team but just as back-up ok?"

"Y-yeah, sure." David replied, a bit shocked at his acceptance by the team leader.

"Right, that's settled," Cyclops said, returning to gaze over the whole room. " I want everyone in the hanger and ready to go in ten, let's go people."

As the rest of the group began to filter out of the meeting, David went to stop Wolverine, "Logan!" He called out.

The diminutive X-man turned around to face the younger man. "What?" He said gruffly as David caught up with him and they continued down the corridor.

"I just wanted to thank you for speaking up for me back there, it means a lot that you think I'm ready."

"Ya can thank me by not messin' up and getting yourself, or someone else, killed kid." Logan replied tersely but regretted his words as soon as he had spoken them, "Ah shit, look kid. Yer getting better but ya can never be fully ready in this line o'work. Keep yer head down and take notes alright? Ya need experience and that's what this is gonna give yer, in spades."

***

Angela Carter had never been so scared in her life. From her hiding place, beneath the collapsed arch of a building, she could see the devastation clearly. All along the main road of the city, people were running for their lives as buildings fell apart around them with the sheer brutality of the attack. The scream's could be heard for miles. It had all happened so quickly, one minute the day had been like any other, shoppers paraded the streets in search of the next bargain. The next, pandemonium. Five heralds of death had descended from the sky and unleashed their furious wrath on the people below them. Five beings with powers and abilities that set them apart from any normal human. Mutants. And they were pretty damn annoyed.

Suddenly there was an explosion to her left and Angela screamed in fright, running out of her hiding place and away from the blast. She jumped up and quickly scanned the area, looking for any trouble but could find none. A small crevice on the other side of the street took her notice as another place to hide and, eyes darting wildly about in fright, began to make her way across the desolate space. 

"Well, look at this," Someone said near to her. Angela span round quickly but could find no-one.

"Who's there?" She said, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible.

"No-one it seems." Came a mirthful chuckle behind her.

She span around again but could still see no-one near. "Show yourself, you coward!" She shouted into the open space.

Angela stiffened as a strong hand reached down and grabbed her head, she was forced to lift her head up so that she was looking into the sky. There was only blue until a figure, hovering above the ground,  came into her field of vision.

"Hello," The figure said, "Pleased to meet you!" He continued with a sinister smile on his face. 

Angela screamed and tried to run but the man's grip was too strong and she ended up falling onto the ground. To her side the man landed softly and strode up to her, grabbing her chin in his hand. 

"I suppose it would be fitting for you to know who your executioner is, flatscan." He said and quickly pulled her face nearer to his, his grin widened evilly. "The name is Chrome."

"Mon dieu mes amis, dat don't be no way to pick up de girls non?" He heard to his left, he turned his head but, before he could react, a bolt of red energy hit him side-on and blasted him away from the girl.

Chrome picked himself up from the ground shakily and took in his assailants.

"Wolverine, Gambit," Cyclops ordered, "Get him."

The two X-men moved as one towards the target, Gambit taking the high ground over the debris while Wolverine stayed low and moved around to the side of the man. Chrome took in the threat and blasted into the air determined to get back to his comrades, "You can't get me like that gene-traitors," He shouted behind him as Cyclops fired into the air in an attempt to down him. "Catch me if you can!"

"Damn it"" He shouted as he turned to the others, "Rogue, take Wolverine and track him down, let us know when you find the group but don't attack until we get there. I'll give David a call and see if he can find them using the Blackbirds sensors."

"A'm on it Cyke." Rogue called out as she flew over to Wolverine, "Come on Logan, I bet we find 'em before the Blackbird does."

"Sound's like a bet darlin'," He replied with a smile, Rogue returned the gesture and lifted him into the air and towards the fleeing mutant.

***

David sat in the cockpit of the Blackbird, twirling around in his chair as he waited for news on the others. He felt even more useless than usual. _God, when are they gonna get in touch, he thought, nervousness apparent in his constant fidgeting._

He had eventually cracked from the pressure and started to pace up and down the walkway when the radio finally sprung into life. "Pulse are you there?" The voice crackled over the com systems, "This is Cyclops over?"

David rushed over to the panel and held down the send button, "I'm here Cyclops," He replied breathlessly, "How's it going?"

"We found one of them but he managed to escape," The tone alone told David that Cyclops was not a happy man. "We need you to pinpoint their location with the Blackbirds sensors. Search for mutagenic signatures."

"On it, " Pulse replied and rushed over to the sensors and began typing in a few commands. _Shit, I wish Kitty were here, she'd know what the hell she was doing, he thought nervously. He had been taught about the planes systems but any kind of higher brain functions had kind of gone out the window since they had first landed, plus it'd be pretty nice if Kitty were here anyhow…._

"Pulse?" Cyclops said impatiently over the radio. 

David shook his head, **_do not __go there you bloody fool, he berated himself, __now is definitely _****not the time." It's coming up now," He shouted over as, indeed, the viewer changed to display a map of the city and the different mutants within it's sensors range. **

"There's three at your position and two flying away from you on a northward trajectory."

"That'll be Rogue and Wolverine," Cyclops interjected, "I sent them ahead to see if we could find them that way."

"Oh, right, well it looks like their going the right way, there's another group of mutants just up ahead from them. In fact," He paused.

"What?"

"Their right on top of them and, oh shit." David said, unable to keep the worry from his voice. "From the way that all the different signatures are moving around, I reckon our friends have decided to come out to play."

Cyclops bit back a curse and signalled the rest of the group to follow him "We're on our way, how far are they from us?"

"Take the next right and they should only be a couple of hundred meters from you."

 "200? If we were that close we'd have heard the battle." Cyclops thought aloud, as he, Gambit and Shadowcat ran up to the corner of the street.

"Um, well, their kind of closing…" David didn't need to finish the sentence as a very large man flew past in front of Cyclops closely followed by, a very angry looking, Rogue.

"A've got a good mind to show y'all what happens when ya don't respect a lady like ma'self." She shouted angrily at the figure currently trying to pull himself out of the building he had just been punched into.

"Bout time the damn cavalry showed up Cyke." Wolverine shouted over his shoulder as the remaining X-men entered the fray. "Maybe now we can put these jokers away."

"Gene-traitors!" A female mutant shouted, "You X-men should be helping us punish this god-forsaken country for it's crimes against our kind not protect it." She added as she whirled around, aiming her pulse rifle towards the oncoming X-men.

With a speed that defies description, Gambit took a card from his deck and let it fly towards her, "Times change chere, "He said as the card detonated behind the woman and she was thrown forward with the force of the explosion. "The gov'ment changed since dose times too, tryin' to make ting's right non?" He jumped over some debris and, in one smooth movement, pulled out his bo-staff, extended it and brought it down on the mutants head.

"One down, just a few more to go." Shadowcat said wryly while phasing through a punch and ending up on the other side of the attacker. She quickly flipped round, turned tangible, and knocked him down with a roundhouse kick to the head.

"Who are you people?" Cyclops demanded, firing an optic blast at another mutant. A sledgehammer punch to the side of the face sent him to the ground and stopped him from adding anything else.

"I'm Frenzy," The female mutant answered, sporting a malicious grin as she looked down at the fallen leader, "And we are the Acolytes."

"Acolytes eh?" Wolverine growled as he threw himself at the woman, a small grin betraying his enjoyment of the fight  "Sound's like a stupid name ta me darlin'." He forced her onto the floor and pinned her down, the telltale sound indicating the unsheathing of his claws, "I've got a few names for yer right here."

Lifting his head groggily, Cyclops saw the two and recognised Wolverines berserker rage taking over. "Wolverine, don't." He rasped.

"Don't worry leader-man," Frenzy replied, using her super-strength to pull out of his grip and punch him to the other side of the street. "He's not going to do anything."

Cyclops got to his feet, staring angrily at the Acolyte. "He's going to do a whole lot more than you." And then unleashed an optic blast at the woman that sent her smashing into the building behind her and knocking her unconscious. 

***

David sat in front of the display of the Blackbird, silently watching the numerous symbols - indicating the various mutants - constantly moving around in a fiercely chaotic dance.  He couldn't tell who was winning or what was happening and he had never felt so useless in all of his life. 

A new symbol caught his eye as it appeared on the screen and David's eyes widened as he noted that the computer had managed to recognise the mutagenic signature. Comprehension slowly dawned on him as to the danger the X-men now faced and panic began to set in. He raced to the comm. system and tried to raise the team, fumbling with the radio in his haste.

"Cyclops!" He almost shouted down the line, "Cyclops do you hear me?"

There was no response, only an intermittent, hissing noise. 

"Cyclops, this Pulse, do you read me over?"

Still no reply. He growled absently as he smacked the console with the palm of his hand. "Come on you stupid piece of shit, work! Cyclops, come on, answer me!" Realising that the radio must be broken, David howled in frustration.

"Shit, shit, shit! Now what the hell do I do?" 

Slowly he turned and stared at the exit, knowing that the only way to tell the others was to go out there himself, David gritted his teeth and headed outside.


	8. Chapter 7

Here's the disclaimer part. All the X-men characters are Marvel's, sue me and I'll be forced to sell my beloved used-tissue collection which would break my heart! David, Alex and Danny are mine, if you want to use them then go right ahead. Please, please, please review! Cheers

Part Seven

"David?" Cyclops thought aloud, raising his hand to his head as he picked something up from the ear-piece. He tried to reply but when all that came back was the same, indistinct noise he gave up and turned his attention back to the battle. 

All seemed to be going in their favour for the moment. Wolverine and Rogue had double-teamed against the giant mutant, Delgado, while Frenzy was still recovering from her close encounter with a brick wall.  Chrome was down thanks to Shadowcat and Gambit had neutralised the mutant, Scanner.

He walked over to where Wolverine was holding down the leader, Fabian Cortez and began to interrogate him. "Alright, Acolyte, what the hell was this all about? Why attack a city full of innocent people?"

"They are nothing of the sort!" He retorted angrily, "The Genoshans enslaved our brothers and sisters for years until the truth was uncovered and now these 'innocents' must be punished for their actions."

Wolverine growled deeply and pushed Cortez harder against the wall he was pinned by. "And what gives yer the right ta decide on the right course o' punishment?"

Cortez regarded the X-men levelly, "We are mutants," He began matter-of-factly, "We are the next step in evolution, this world should be ruled by our laws and our own kind. They have called us a 'natural abhorrence', a mistake in God's great plan but the real truth is that these flatscans are the fodder. Remnants of an old, inferior, version of our species, destined to die a gradual death as our kind swell in number."

"These are living beings Cortez! How dare you condemn them in that way."

"I condemn them in the same way that they have condemned our kind ever since we appeared on this God-forsaken planet." He retorted angrily. "But, under the guidance of our Lord and Saviour, we are preparing for the day that will see the ascension of _homo superior and the destruction of anyone who opposes us."_

Wolverine looked questioningly at Cyclops, "Lord and Saviour? What is this? Some sort o' religious nut convention?"  

"Who the hell is your Lord Cortez?" Cyclops demanded, almost fearing the answer.

"He is a far greater man that any of us. It is his vision of the world that will free our brothers and sisters from the bonds of slavery and into a new era."

Finally losing his tenuous grip on his patience, Cyclops grabbed the Acolyte by his collar and shouted, "Alright, Acolyte, I'm going to ask this one more time and then let Wolverine have a chat with you." The diminutive X-man gave him an evil grin, slowly unleashing his claws in front of his face. "Who is your Leader?"

At that moment Wolverine detected another scent that made his blood run cold, he turned his head towards the sky and saw a familiar individual descend towards them. "Uh Cyke, I think I can answer that one for yer." 

"ENOUGH!" Came a cry from the figure. Cyclops glanced over his shoulder, only to be confronted with one of the most powerful mutants alive. 

"Magneto?!" He said, aghast, but decided not to continue as Wolverine, quickly advancing towards the mutant, was casually picked up by his adamantium and thrown five blocks down the street.

"I will not have my disciples treated in such a manner." He stated calmly as he simultaneously created a magnetic-bubble around Cyclops (preventing him from using his optic beams) while ripping up the street around the last three X-men and making them scatter before they were swallowed up by the ground.

Rogue rose from the ground and flew towards her aggressor, "Don't do this Magneto" She called out, lunging, full-speed at him, "Ya'll only be giving the governments reason to treat mutants in any way they want and they won't stop until they've taken you down."

"And how, dear Rogue, do you think they will do that?" The master of Magnetism replied as he casually swatted her away with a gesture, "When even the most powerful of your team cannot hope to defeat me, when one of the most primal forces of the Earth is mine to control absolutely." He walked towards the leader of the X-men, regarding Cyclops and the rest of his fallen team-mates with something close to both contempt and respect.  "The so-called rulers of this world" He continued more quietly, "Will learn to bow down to the rightful inheritors of this planet or be crushed like ants under the boot of their former slaves."

Concentrating, Magneto gathered up his unconscious Acolytes and began to lift off the ground in a giant magnetic bubble. "Perhaps Charles, in his infinite wisdom, refused to believe that the day in which mutants would rise up and take what is theirs would be as inevitable as the sun setting in the evening." He called out to the, gradually recovering, X-men. "Perhaps you believe that too, but" He said scooping up the startled mutants into another bubble, "Lets see how much." 

"Here's another thought," Came a shout from below, "Lets not!" And with that, streaks of pure energy hammered into the bubble containing Magneto. Staggered by the sheer force of the attack, he lost his concentration and allowed the two bubbles to fade into nothingness. The two groups of mutants landed, hard, on the floor but Magneto was the first to rise.

"WHO DARES!" He thundered, anger and surprise evident in both words and expression. He scanned the area but could see no-one. "Who holds his life in such contempt that he would dare to attack me?"

"Bloody 'ell, look who got out of the bed the wrong side this morning." The stranger replied as he, again, attacked the Acolytes, forcing them away from the others.

Barely able to maintain a shield from the brute strength and unusual make-up of the energy being thrown at him, Magneto's stubborn pride was the only thing keeping  him on his feet. "Show yourself, you coward!"

Stepping out of the shadows, Pulse continued his assault and steadily advanced towards the retreating  Acolytes. "Well, since you asked so politely…" He said grinning, becoming increasingly confident in his abilities.

With one glimpse of the figure in front of him, flashes of memories he never knew he possessed broke to the surface of Erik Lenshnner's mind. Memories of a time past, before he took the name Magneto, glimpse's so tragically brief but so maddeningly real that he would never doubt the validity of them. Images of a laboratory that he could not identify and himself as a younger man, standing beside someone else, someone he knew he recognised but could not make the connection. There was a purpose to this lab, he could feel the importance of the work he was doing there but what was it? What could have been buried  in his subconscious so completely and for so long that none of the telepaths he has fought and worked with over the years could have seen it before? All he knew for sure was that this figure before him, this being of pure energy, was the one who had broken the bonds holding him back from his past, and there was something else…

Staggering under the mental and physical assault, Magneto could only just manage to stutter out, "I-I know you?" Before he fell limply to the ground., exhausted.

Pulse stopped in his tracks, "What? What did you say?", he asked as he walked up to the fallen man. Magneto could only shrug his shoulders.

"I do not know." He said, as frustrated as the man standing before him.

"How could you not know?" David shouted angrily, grabbing by his collar and slamming him up against a wall. "Tell me, how do you know me?"

Suddenly there was an explosion to his right and he was thrown off of his feet.

"Pulse!" Cyclops shouted as he fought off Chrome "Lets go!"

David realised that he had forgotten all about the other Acolytes and had left the other X-men to deal with them while he had concentrated on Magneto. The renegade mutants had managed to take the upper hand and they were being forced to retreat.

"No!" He retorted angrily, turning to face them, "We can't go, I've got to find out what he meant!"

"Even if I had the answers you seek, I would not share them with you," Pulse heard from behind him. He turned around to be confronted with the standing Magneto. "Well, at least not yet anyway." Before gesturing with his hand and hurling David across the street, crashing into the other X-men, and into the opposite building. 

Still in his force-field form, Pulse was the only one still able to get up, determined to get the information out of the mutant leader. The two locked eyes, and, with the uncertainty in his foes face, David knew that Magneto had no more idea who he was, or why he recognised him, than David himself did. 

Magneto grinned sinisterly, "There will be time for this later child." 

"Why put off till tomorrow, what you can do today?" Pulse replied, but he knew that he had no chance of defeating Magneto and the Acolytes on his own. Before he could do anything however, Magneto twisted the girders in the nearest structure, sending it hurtling down upon his unconscious team-mates. 

"NO!" David shouted frantically, he turned and ran as fast as he could towards the others as the building continued to fall. Without thinking he began to morph his body, creating a shield over the stricken mutants, but this was unknown territory for him. Having already used his powers for far longer then ever before, he could feel himself weakening and the impact of the rubble getting harder and harder to ignore.

"Acolytes!" Magneto called out, regarding the others with a cold stare. "We are finished here!" He then created a magnetic bubble around each of the squad before flying into the air and away.

Afterwards, there was only silence. 


	9. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Dave's mine, the' X-men' isn't. Damn. **Part 8**

"This is Trish Tilby reporting live from a scene of total devastation in the heart of the Genoshan capital, Hammer Bay. It was just a typical day for the residents of this fine city before a group of super-powered mutants, calling themselves the 'Acolytes', appeared in the skies above and rained hell-fire down upon the unsuspecting innocents in the streets."

"Justifying their actions by claiming this as reprisals for the forced slavery of their kind in work-camps under the previous administration, the five mutants proceeded to commit wholesale slaughter and destruction until they were stopped by the timely intervention of the X-men, a vigilante group of mutants dedicated to the peaceful co-existence of our two races."

"The X-men seemingly gained the upper hand until the known mutant terrorist, Magneto, appeared on the scene, claiming leadership of the Acolytes and turning the tide of the battle. His attempt to withdraw from the scene with the X-men as hostages was thwarted, however, when an unknown mutant appeared and forced Magneto to retreat from the scene with his hands empty. A parting gift came in the shape of a three-story building being pulled down on top of the mutant and his well-known comrades. We wait to see if anyone has survived the impact…"

***

Rogue woke to find herself in complete darkness. After sitting up and taking a moment to get her bearings, she began to feel around for any other people, "Hey," She called out,  "Anyone there?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Logan replied gruffly, lifting himself up onto his elbows and sniffing the air "We're all here."

"An' where would that be?" She said, rubbing her eyes. "An' who turned out the lights? Ah can't see a thing." 

"One, we ain't gone anywhere, I'm still getting the smells of the city, and I'd say we're buried under some heavy-duty amounts of rubble."

Rogue eyed her surrounding suspiciously, "Pretty lucky to have a handy-dandy clear spot open up on top of us like that."

"Yeah. Pretty lucky." Wolverine replied. 

A strained laugh broke the silence, "I-it had n-nothing to d-do with luck."

"David?" Rogue said, straining to see the newest member of the team in the darkness. "Is that ya'll?"

"Yep, i-it's me"

"Where are ya?"

"Oh, around…"

"You alright? You don't sound none to good."

There was a brief pause, "N-now that you mention it, no. I'm not." He replied tersely, "T-this stuff on my 'back' is pretty f-fucking heavy, and I don't think I'm gonna be able to h-hold it for much longer, so I'd appreciate any thoughts you might have on GETTING US THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"

"Whoa, way to go Mr Cool, Calm And Collected." They heard Shadowcat mutter groggily as she sat up next to, a gradually awakening, Gambit, cradling her head in her hands and trying to clear her thoughts.

"Kitty?" David called out, trying to keep the worry he'd felt for her when the building had collapsed onto them out of his voice. "You ok?"

"Hopefully," She replied bluntly, lifting herself up into a sitting position she tried to see the other X-men. "It's pretty dark in here, anyone got a light?"

"Your wish, cherie, is this Cajun's pleasure in making come true." Gambit said before taking out a playing card and charging it with a small amount of his kinetic power, the glow produced was enough for them to see everyone else in the enclosed space.

Kitty took a second, then a third look around, "Uh, David?" She asked.

"Y-yeah?"

"Where are you exactly?"

***

"I-I can't keep it off my back for much longer," Pulse groaned as his energy began to wane and the rubble shifted in position, allowing the smaller pieces of debris to fall through the, newly opened, cracks and clatter against the outside of David's force-field body.

Shadowcat glanced at Rogue and the pair exchanged a worried look. Rogue, for her part, was concerned about Cyclops, he'd been out cold for some time now and didn't seem to be making any signs of waking up any time soon. Kitty's mind was more focused on other parts of the current situation or, more specifically, David. 

"I think the situation calls for a speedy exit don't you?" She said, projecting as much confidence as she could at the group. 

"I'm all ears darlin" Logan replied, "Got anything else up those sleeves other than cards Gumbo?" He asked the Cajun mutant.

"Not for getting out of here mon ami." Gambit answered back. "I tink it's time to call in the back up non?" He said eyeing Kitty thoughtfully. "Or maybe it's time for Ms Kitty-Cat to do her phasing ting and get to the Blackbird, call help, blow de rubble up from the outside or somet'ing, gotta be better than standing about worrying eh?"

Kitty stood there aghast, why hadn't she thought of that before? Had her worry for David affected her judgement so easily, it had never happened before, even for Logan.  What was happening here?

Kitty looked at Logan who returned the gaze before nodding slightly at her, "Yer know it's the only way out for us Kitty. Rogue can only batter this stuff away from us if David lets her through his force-field and he ain't got the strength left or experience ta make sure the rest don't come crashing down on the rest o' us." He said, gradually inching closer to her so that only she could hear the final bit of what he had to say. "I know yer worried about Dave Kit, but he's strong and you ain't doing him any good stuck in here."

Kitty nodded in agreement, " Ok you've got a point, but I'll take the rest of you with me. While I go to get the Blackbird you can start hauling some of the rubble off of David's back and, hopefully, buy us some more time."

"I'm staying," Logan replied sternly as everyone turned to look at him but he ignored their questioning looks and looked at Shadowcat. "Someone needs ta stay with the kid and keep him going, Cyke needs to get back to the Mansion fast so as soon you get to the 'Bird I want you gone and letting them know what's going on." Logan turned to Rogue and Gambit. "I ain't got the right power ta do anything out there but you two have, as soon as you get out start laying into this thing with all you've got. There's gonna be people out there who won't be none too pleased ta see mutants still in the area so work fast but work quiet."

"S-sounds like a p-plan to me." David replied as light-heartedly as he could, trying to keep the ever-increasing strain of the load out of his voice.

Kit walked over to a more secluded area of the bubble and whispered to Pulse "We'll get you out of this David, I promise."

A face appeared out of the bubble just in front of her and Kitty forced herself to smile with as much confidence as she could. "I know you will Kit," He replied, "It's worth it just to see that smile." He ventured teasingly and a more genuine, shy, smile broke across Kitty's face at the gesture.

"Time to get going Kitty," Rogue called out as she picked up Cyclops and moved closer to the edge with Gambit. David gave her a wink before the face disappeared into the rest of the bubble and she turned around, held Rogue and Gambit's arms and activated her power.

As soon as she started to phase through Pulse's body Kitty knew something was terribly wrong. David screamed in agony as the electrical bonds - holding the molecules of his body together - were disrupted by Kitty's power and almost lost consciousness with the strain. Kitty and her passengers were thrown back into the dome with the shock.

"David!" Shadowcat screamed frantically as she tried to get to her feet but couldn't and fell back to the ground. 

"Ahhh, Jesus!" David groaned out, trying desperately to hold his body together. "What the bloody 'ell happened there?"

"Seems like Kitty's power doesn't particularly compliment yours mon ami." Gambit commented dryly, smoothly producing a playing card from nowhere and charging it up.

"Thanks fer the insight Sherlock," Logan replied sarcastically, using the light to help Kitty up from where she was laying. "How's Cyke?"

"Not good, " Rogue replied. "He's got a pulse but it's getting weaker by the minute."

Logan cursed inwardly and tried to think of other ways to escape. And failed.

"Shit. Anyone got any ideas?"

"I dunno but we'd better come up with something quick if we're…."

"Shut up." Pulse said, interrupting Rogue, "I-I'm trying to concentrate."

"What… David no, you're too weak!" Kitty exclaimed, realising what he was going to do.

"I-It's you're only chance Kit." He replied and turned his attention back to his plan.

The rubble started to tremble as Pulse began to pour what remained of his dwindling energy into one last push against the mountain of debris above him. 

"Don't David!" She cried out frantically, "No!" 

He started to glow brighter and brighter until he couldn't give anymore and seemingly exploded upwards, catapulting the pile of rocks into the air and away from the stunned X-men.

"No." 

Rogue looked around, searching for any hint of their friend. "David, where are ya'll!" She called out frantically, turning over the nearby debris in a futile attempt to find him.

"Come on David!"

A strong hand on her shoulder stopped her and she turned around to see Logan standing next to her, a mixture of sorrow and anxiety in his expression. Kitty stood further away, holding her arms close to her and looking like she might be sick at any minute

"He's gone darlin'," Logan said softly, "And besides, we've got some other matters to attend to." He continued, nodding his head towards the, rapidly advancing, swarm of reporters. 

"Damn," She replied, eyeing the mass with dread. "We've gotta get out o'here now." Rogue said a silent prayer for the lost X-man and then took to the skies. "Logan, you Kitty and Gambit go on foot, I'll carry Scott back to the Blackbird and get it ready to go." She called out as she picked up the unconscious body of Cyclops and flew towards the jet, Gambit following closely behind.

Wolverine moved softly towards the closest thing he had to a daughter.

"Do you really think he's gone Logan?" She asked quietly, her face ashen.

"I know darlin'," He replied, "But we ain't got time to hang about and see what happens."

Kitty nodded in acknowledgement, said a silent prayer for her friend then turned and headed for the Blackbird.

Damn! Is Dave dead! What's going on with Cyclops? Will Kitty ever recover? Will I ever write another bit of this? Well, that all depends on you! If I gets me some reviews then I'll see what I can do!


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